11 highway shootings, thousands of tips, but Phoenix police still baffled
Despite receiving thousands of tips, Phoenix authorities remain bewildered by a string of shootings along the city's freeways.
Most of tips have been false alarms: windshields cracked by loose rocks, not bullets.
On Thursday聽alone, drivers reported possible shootings of an armored聽truck, two cars, and two tractor-trailers. The authorities and TV crews聽that scrambled to the scenes found only minor damage.
Police did confirm one of these reports as a shooting, raising the number of vehicles shot on Phoenix-area freeways since Aug. 29 to 11.聽Eight have been hit by bullets; the others struck by BBs or pellets.
To add to the frenzied confusion, the shootings haven't fit any clear聽pattern. Most have happened on Interstate 10, but they鈥檝e occurred聽at various times and targeted all kinds of vehicles.
The indiscriminate attacks have sparked widespread public fear and led聽drivers to take alternative routes. So far only one person has been聽injured in the attacks. A girl鈥檚 face was cut by glass when a bullet聽shattered her window.
But Ron Freeman isn鈥檛 taking any chances. He called his wife and聽family to tell them to stay off the freeway until the situation calms聽down.
"It's kind of spooky, man, when people can't drive up and down the聽interstate unless they're getting shot at," Mr. Freeman, who works at聽a truck stop near I-10, told The Associated Press.
Authorities are appealing for help in their search through social聽media, news conferences, TV interviews, and freeway billboards.聽Earlier this week, they quadrupled a state reward for information聽leading to the arrest of the shooters from $5,000 to $20,000.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) has also enlisted the聽help of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,聽local police, and undercover law enforcement officers.
"We have a number of officers ... both uniformed, non-uniformed,聽plainclothes, undercover vehicles, marked vehicles on the road聽patrolling, looking for the suspect, looking for leads," DPS spokesman聽Bart Graves told the AP.
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
