Skip to footer

9 shootings in 10 days: What's happening on Arizona freeways?

State police has quadrupled the reward for information relating to Phoenix's mysterious freeway shootings to $20,000 in the wake of a 'continuing threat to Arizona motorists.'

|
Arizona Department of Public Safety/AP
A bullet hole in the windshield of a vehicle in Phoenix, undated photo. Nine vehicles traveling on the same freeway in the heart of Phoenix have been struck by gunshots in the 10 days, and the state police agency is appealing for information from the public as it conducts what it says is a robust investigation.

Who’s shooting at cars on Phoenix freeways?

That’s what Arizona officials are trying to find out as they quadruple a state reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooters from $5,000 to $20,000.

The Department of Public Safety made the appeal Tuesday as it announced two more car shootings in the ongoing spate that’s unfolded in the past two weeks. Both had taken place on the Interstate 10, though it’s unclear whether they were related to similar incidents on other freeways, including the Loop 202 and State Route 51, said officials.

“This is a priority for our department,” DPS Director Frank Milstead said at a news conference. “Ten days, nine incidents. This is a real and continuing threat to Arizona motorists.”

While only one injury has been reported so far – a 13-year-old girl with a minor cut from broken glass – Colonel Milstead said “it’s just a matter of time before there is a tragedy” if the shootings continue, according to the Associated Press.

“I don't know if this is a copy-cat crime or multiple people partaking in this kind of insanity,” he said.

The incidents began in the late morning of Aug. 29. In the span of half an hour, two vehicles were struck on I-10, authorities said. Late that night, a third car was hit on the same freeway.

Two days later, a fourth vehicle was shot in the middle of the night near the I-10.

On Tuesday, a Phoenix police sergeant’s personal vehicle was struck as he drove to work on the I-10 around 5:20 a.m., according to DPS. A passenger window was shattered, though it wasn’t clear whether the car had been struck by gunfire or something else, such as road debris.

Officials said the sergeant, who was not in uniform at the time of the shooting, wasn’t injured.

Branding the recent incidents “domestic terrorism” and urging motorists to stay alert, Milstead said state police was using its gang task force and special weapons and tactics personal and undercover detectives for freeway surveillance. Both federal and local law enforcement officials are investigating.

“If you drive that stretch of roadway, always be vigilant,” he said. “Under these circumstances, be hyper vigilant.”

This report contains material from the Associated Press and Reuters.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 9 shootings in 10 days: What's happening on Arizona freeways?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0909/9-shootings-in-10-days-What-s-happening-on-Arizona-freeways
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe