The Phoenix freeway shootings, also known as the I-10 shootings, were a series of eleven incidents that occurred between August 27 and September 10, 2015, along
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
and
State Route 202 in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
. Each incident resulted in projectile damage to cars, and one girl was injured.
A suspect was arrested on September 18, but charges against him were dropped in April 2016.
Events
Beginning on August 27, eleven shootings occurred: eight by bullets and three by unspecified projectiles.
Ten of the incidents occurred on
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
, while the eleventh was on
State Route 202. The final shooting occurred on September 10.
False leads
On September 11, a man and woman driving a car were taken into custody in relation to the shootings. The woman was later released, but the 19-year-old male suspect was kept in police custody, as sources stated that he boasted about the shootings to friends. He was later arrested on an unrelated marijuana charge.
Road debris
Road debris, a form of road hazard, is debris on or off a road. Road debris includes substances, materials, and objects that are foreign to the normal roadway environment. Debris may be produced by vehicular or non-vehicular sources, but in all ...
shattering windows also played a role in the investigation, as shattered windows were often investigated as being part of the spree. For example, on September 16 a driver reported his windows being shot by a car that he was seeking to pass, but police later stated that road debris caused the window damage.
Three 18-year-olds with a
slingshot
A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the pro ...
were arrested on September 13 on claims that they had been making copycat attacks, and the three admitted to targeting cars and pedestrians. They were later released.
Mistaken Suspect
Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr., age 21, was arrested in
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
on September 18, 2015. Police initially claimed that Merritt held anti-government and anti-police views.
One day after his arrest, police claimed that they had linked the first four shootings to a pistol owned by Merritt. The weapon in question was later shown to have been in a pawn shop at the time of the 4th shooting. He was charged with fifteen felony counts, including carrying out a drive-by shooting, aggravated assault, unlawfully discharging a firearm, disorderly conduct, and endangerment; prosecutors also considered filing terrorism charges, but ultimately did not, as terrorism-related laws focused primarily on protecting public utilities and did not encompass freeway shootings.
All charges were dropped in April 2016. Merritt was formally cleared of all charges and records were sealed in an August 2020 proceeding with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge William Wingard presiding, who stated "''Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. has been cleared of any allegation or charge, and such a finding is in the interest of justice.''"
Merritt filed a lawsuit against state officials, which went to jury trial in the fall of 2020. The jury returned a finding for the defense, which Merritt appealed in April of 2021. The appeal was denied by the
Arizona District Court.
Merritt ultimately received a 100,000 dollar settlement concluding the countersuit.
See also
*
Serial Shooter
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
, a similar crime spree that occurred from 2005 to 2006 in the Phoenix area
*
Ohio highway sniper attacks
The Ohio highway sniper attacks were a series of 24 sniper attacks along Interstate 270 and other nearby highways in the central part of the U.S. state of Ohio (mostly around Columbus) against traffic, homes, and a school building in the Hamilto ...
, a similar crime spree that occurred in 2003 along
Interstate 270 in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
*
Maryvale serial shooter
Aaron Juan Saucedo, (born April 6, 1994) also known as the Maryvale Street Shooter and the Serial Street Shooter is an accused American serial killer who was linked to twelve separate shootings resulting in nine deaths and three injuries across P ...
, a similar crime spree that occurred in 2016 in Phoenix, mainly the
Maryvale neighborhood.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Interstate 10
2010s in Phoenix, Arizona
2015 in Arizona
Crime in Arizona
Spree shootings in the United States
Attacks in the United States in 2015
August 2015 crimes in the United States
September 2015 crimes in the United States
Unidentified criminals