Arizona cops are positive “the wrong guy” is wrong.
Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. claimed he couldn’t possibly be the man behind a string of nearly one dozen highway shootings near Phoenix because he had just pawned his gun.
Investigators quickly learned the 21-year-old landscaper’s firearm wasn’t pawned until much later, court documents revealed.
He allegedly fabricated the story during a court hearing Saturday despite a Maricopa County judge’s warning to not incriminate himself.
He said he couldn’t be the shooter because his firearm had been in the possession of a pawn shop for the past two months.
“All I’ve got to say is you’ve got the wrong guy,” Merritt said.
Bullet fragments recovered from the scene of four crime scenes along Interstate 10 between Aug. 29 and Sept. 10 were linked to Merritt’s handgun, Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives learned.
The scattered shootings left four vehicles shot up along a 50 block stretch of interstate that runs through Phoenix. One of the shootings shattered a window and cut a 13-year-old girl’s ear.
Police found Merritt’s gun at Mo Money Pawn Wednesday leading to his arrest Friday.
A judge slapped Merritt with a $1 million bail on 28 total charges that include several counts of gun, assault, disorderly conduct and terrorism charges.