The Phoenix I-10 Shooter Is Caught! Who's Gonna Take The Blame?

I-10 shooter held on a $1M get out free card.

Over the past three weeks, the fifth largest city in the United States was in a full blown panic. The areas around Interstate 10 were target grounds for a crazed gunman. The gunman would shoot at vehicles passing through the city.

On Interstate 10 between Interstate 17 and the Loop 101, many residents complained of projectile fire on their vehicles. A young teen was injured by flying debris.

The leads led to this man's arrest.

The Phoenix metro police aided by state and federal authorities announced they've gotten their suspect.

The suspect is a White guy who is in his early-20s. He's being held in Maricopa County lockup on a $1M get out free card. The man's motives aren't known but some figured he had issues.

The law said that he pawned a firearm after the pressure was on him. He said that he spent time with his family. Now the father of two is likely going to face 50 to LIFE in the iron college if found guilty of domestic terrorism.

So far, he denies he's the guy but many leads and his shoddy story doesn't help his case.

Anyway, the blame game.

Who's gonna take the blame for the I-10 shootings?

A) BARACK OBAMA
B) BLACK LIVES MATTER
C) LIBERALS
D) NRA
E) THE SHOOTER
F) ALL OF THESE ABOVE

If you picked E, then you're absolutely correct. It's a no brainer. But of course, if you're aiming blame at the other entities, then you're not helping. Matter of fact, why don't we blame the Tea Party for the shooting?

I can imagine that the folks over at Breitfart and The Daily Nothing blaming the suspect's motives on liberalism and Barack Obama. Whenever a White guy who commits a gun crime, they deflect blame on liberals and the president. Never the shooter's fault. It's always someone else.

Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., who was arrested Friday, shook his head as a prosecutor asked the judge to set bail at that mark at a court hearing, and the suspect took in a deep breath when the judge agreed.

The I-10 shooter in court. Leslie Merritt is a suspect in the shooting of vehicles on the busy freeway.

Police have said the suspect was "forensically linked" to the first four shootings along Interstate 10 in downtown Phoenix.

"The evidence as you will see in the next couple of days speaks for itself," Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told reporters. "We're not going to get into a debate (with the suspect)."

Merritt was arrested while shopping at a Walmart in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb, according to Daniel Scarpinato, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey.

Authorities got a break in the case after a 9 mm handgun was pawned, City Councilman Sal DiCiccio said. The pawn shop's owner alerted authorities after he suspected it was the same type used in the highway shootings.

Lab results showed it was the same gun used in four I-10 shootings on August 29 and 31, said Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Graves said Merritt pawned the handgun, which investigators collected from the shop. The gun was fired at the state crime lab and bullets from the tests matched bullet fragments from the four freeway shootings, Graves said.

Phoenix, AZ

It's unclear whether the suspect is connected to the other seven shootings.

"Are there others out there? Are there copycats? That is possible," Milstead said. "We will continue to investigate."

The suspect's father, Leslie Merritt Sr., told CNN affiliate KNXV-TV that anyone who believes his son is the shooter is " a moron."

Leslie Merritt is innocent until proven guilty.

The suspect has no connection to a man who was questioned by police about the shootings earlier in the week, Graves said.