Police detain man for questioning in Arizona freeway shootings

Police in Arizona have detained one man for questioning in connection with a series of shootings and other attacks that have left Phoenix-area motorists panicked over the last two weeks.

The man, whose identity was withheld, was detained at 107th Avenue and Indian School Road in Glendale, just outside Phoenix, on Friday morning.

Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, would not say why the man was initially stopped or release any additional information about him. The man is being questioned as a “person of interest” in the freeway shootings and several other cases, according to Graves.

Since Aug. 29, 11 vehicles have been shot at along a stretch of Interstate 10 from central Phoenix to 5 miles west of downtown, police have said.

Only one person, a 13-year-old girl, has been injured, though it remains unclear whether she was struck by a projectile or wounded by debris after the vehicle she was riding in was shot at.

Eight of the vehicles were shot with bullets, according to Graves. The other three were struck with “other projectiles,” though he would not describe them. Graves would not comment on the caliber of ammunition or type of weapon used in any of the incidents.

With tension high in Phoenix, police have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection with the shootings. Orange-lighted digital billboards have popped up along the highway warning motorists about the “I-10 shooter” and asking them to phone police with any tips.

“These are bad people trying to do harm to good people,” Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, told ABC News this week.

Earlier this year, a similar series of attacks in three suburban towns caused panic in northern Colorado. The attacks, which lasted from April to June, left two people dead and two others injured. Motorists there reported having their windows shot out along a stretch of Interstate 25 in Larimer County in April. No one has been arrested in that case.

Graves said earlier this week that investigators had contacted police in Colorado as a precaution, although there is no evidence linking the two series of attacks.

Times Staff Writer Nigel Duara contributed to this report.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for breaking news.

ALSO

Baltimore mayor won’t seek re-election

Man charged in plot to use pressure cooker bomb at 9/11 memorial in Missouri

Who was Freddie Gray, and what’s next for the police officers charged in his death?