PHOENIX — Police swarmed a convenience store near Interstate 10, detained a man and seized his white Chevrolet Tahoe on Friday, raising hopes of a resolution to the freeway shootings rattling Phoenix.

A man and woman were taken into custody for questioning, but Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said only the man is currently of interest to investigators.

The man has not been arrested, but his questioning could continue for hours, and the SUV is being examined for any evidence that might connect it to 11 confirmed shootings on the city’s freeways in the last two weeks, Graves said.

Witnesses said law enforcement officers seemed to be waiting for the man to appear and moved in quickly, surrounding his SUV with unmarked vehicles.

The man, who has not been identified, complained that officers had been aggressive with him, aggravating his back injury. Speaking briefly to Fox 10 in Phoenix from the back of a squad car after being apprehended, he said officers surrounded him and his mother, guns drawn, after he bought a pack of cigarettes and a drink.

Josie Duarte had thought something was odd when she arrived for work at a nearby dental clinic earlier Friday and noticed 10 unmarked cars along with a marked squad truck parked behind her office. She only realized what was up when she saw the same cars swarm the parking lot of the Chevron station and convenience store.

Marco Mansilla watched it unfold while getting coffee at an adjacent McDonald’s. The lot was suddenly teeming with law enforcement, and when he tried to leave, an officer told him to “go back in the store. It’s not safe.”

Mansilla said he asked an officer, “What happened? Is that the sniper guy?” He said the officer declined to answer, saying only “enjoy your breakfast.”

On his way back to his window-tinting business across the street, Mansilla said he saw the man sitting inside a police car while four officers watched over the woman, who was in handcuffs.

“She was in shock,” Mansilla said.

Store clerk Sara Kaur said she was the one who sold the man some cigarettes, at about 9:15 a.m., moments before between 15 to 20 cars swarmed in and officers handcuffed him. She described him as being about 30 years old and a regular customer, and said she’s “never had a problem with him.”

Graves said officers investigating the shootings will remain on patrol and his agency will keep posting freeway billboard messages urging the public to come forward with any tips.

“This is an ongoing investigation,” he said Friday.

Phoenix drivers have been unnerved since the shootings began on Aug. 29, mostly along Interstate 10, a major route through the city. Many avoided freeways since then. Eight of the cars were hit with bullets and three with projectiles that could have been BBs or pellets. One girl’s ear was cut by glass as a bullet shattered her window.

Authorities appealed for help through social media, news conferences, TV interviews and freeway billboards, whose messages morphed from “report suspicious activity” to “shooting tips” to the more ominous “I-10 shooter tip line.”

Many of the thousands of tips proved to be false leads. In Arizona, windshields are frequently cracked by loose rocks sent airborne by the tires of other vehicles.

The shootings haven’t fit any obvious pattern. Bullets have been fired at various times of the day, striking a seemingly random assortment of vehicles, from an empty bus to tractor-trailers to pickup trucks, cars and SUVs.

Longtime residents still remember the random shootings that terrorized Phoenix a decade ago. Nearly 30 people were shot then, and eight killed, including a cyclist who was riding down the street and a man who was sleeping at a bus stop. Two men were eventually caught and convicted.

 

 


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