PHOENIX, Sept. 11 (UPI) — Arizona authorities took a mother and son into custody early Friday in connection to a series of shootings along Phoenix’s busy Interstate 10, officials said.
The pair were stopped at a gas station in Phoenix at about 7:30 a.m. local time Friday. The mother was later released but the man was held for questioning.
Neither person’s identity was revealed, nor was it stated that either is a possible suspect. Their ages also weren’t known.
Fox News said its Phoenix affiliate, KSAZ-TV, reported that the man was tackled by police as he exited the gas station — and that spoke to the news crew from inside a police car.
“I had just gotten cigarettes … when I got in the truck they rammed me, threw me on the ground and my mom, they haven’t told us nothing,” he reportedly said. “They haven’t told us nothing. I kept asking, they said, ‘I can’t tell you anything.’ I have a messed-up back, I had three back surgeries.
“They laid me on the ground and my face is still swollen, busted lip.”
For weeks, police have been looking for an unknown gunman who has been shooting at traffic along the interstate. Friday, officials said a bullet hole was found on a truck, ABC News reported.
Investigators are not yet sure if all 12 shootings are related, or how many people might be involved.
“These are bad people trying to do harm to good people,” Department of Public Safety Col. Frank Milstead said.
Police have said the shootings began on Aug. 29 and have all occurred within an eight-mile stretch of freeway.
Fox News cited sources Friday who claimed that the man detained for questioning had bragged to acquaintances about his participation in the rash of shootings.
Officials called the man a “person of interest” and said he will likely be questioned by investigators all day Friday.
