Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. Arrested in Connection with Phoenix Freeway Shootings (VIDEO) (Update: Suspect Says, ‘I’m the wrong guy’)

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweets: ‘We got him!’…

21 year old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. has been arrested in connection with the recent rash of Phoenix, Arizona highway shootings. Merritt has been named a suspect in at least four of the shootings. The authorities believe that other shootings may be that of copycats. Gov. Doug Ducey first broke the news about the arrest in a tweet just before 7 p.m Friday night., after SWAT team members closed in on the suspect at a Walmart near 59th and Northern avenues. Merritt has not been formally charged but is expected to face a range of charges, such as unlawful discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault, Graves said. Merritt is reported to have a previous had a criminal record. Merritt will be arraigned on Saturday.

With Friday’s arrest of Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., 21, law-enforcement officials said they had a suspect in at least four of the shootings in custody — news that brought relief but not necessarily closure.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said Merritt had been linked to at least four of 11 shootings incidents through a gun he owned.

“The weapon and man we believe was responsible for starting this spree is in custody,” Milstead said late Friday at a hastily called news conference.

Milstead spoke only for a few minutes and would not divulge other details, such as a possible motive.

“Are there others out there? Are there copycats? That is possible,” Milstead said.

Leslie Allen Merritt Jr.

Suspected freeway shooter taken into custody.

Ballistics tests linked a weapon owned by the suspect to the first four of the 11 freeway shootings, on Aug. 29 and 31, Milstead said. Investigators had tracked down the weapon at a pawn shop in Phoenix.

Merritt’s Facebook page contains several links to stories about the freeway shootings, as well as several images supporting gun rights and video of him shooting a 9mm handgun.

Before the arrest, Milstead and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery had labeled the shooter as a domestic terrorist.

Police arrest suspect in string of Phoenix freeway shootings

UPDATE I: Phoenix freeway shooting suspect Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. Says, ‘I’m the wrong guy’.

A landscaper arrested in a series of Phoenix freeway shootings told a judge that authorities have “the wrong guy” as investigators stood by their detective work that traced the gun to the suspect after he took it to a pawn shop.

Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was charged Saturday with counts including aggravated assault, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, carrying out a drive-by shooting and intentional acts of terrorism.

“All I have to say is I’m the wrong guy. I tried telling the detectives that. My gun’s been in the pawn shop the last two months. I haven’t even had access to a weapon,” he said as he stood handcuffed in a black and white striped jail uniform.

But a charging document released late Saturday night by Maricopa Superior Court said that investigators determined Merritt had not pawned his gun at the time of the incidents.

Florida Woman Nickole Dykema Arrested After Trying to Stab Police Deputy … Arrest Leads to House of Horrors Filled with 500 Bladed Weapons

EVER WONDER WHO MIGHT BE LIVING NEXT TO YOU?

A Florida woman, Nickole Dykema, was arrested Tuesday night after she tried to stab a police deputy with a machete. Police showed up at the Brooksville home to arrest Nickole Dykema on an outstanding felony arrest warrant. However, no one could have dreamed what they police were about to come upon. After Dykema tried to stab the officer, she ran back into her mobile home. Authorities entered the home after her and came across rooms filled with about 500 bladed weapons, altar covered in pentagrams and fake body parts. GOOD GRIEF!!! It looks like a scene out of a slasher, ‘Wrong Turn’ horror movie. According to reports, police deputies said they had removed more than 3,500 “bladed instruments” from the home.

Click HERE or on PIC to watch VIDEO via FOX

A Florida woman was arrested Tuesday night after she tried to stab a deputy with a large sword or machete inside a mobile home filled with thousands of other bladed weapons, authorities said.

The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies went to Nickole Dykema’s Brooksville home to assist probation and parole officers who were trying to issue felony arrest warrants at around 10 p.m.

Dykema was seen looking at law enforcement officers through a broken window in her home, but refused to come out and disappeared back into the residence, according to a news release. Once other deputies arrived, officers forced their way into the home and were met by Dykema who had a large sword or machete in her hand, according to the release. She tried to stab one of the deputies and missed his face by inches.

The newspaper reports Dykema fled into a room filled with about 500 bladed weapons. Authorities noticed there were other rooms filled with similar weapons and another room that contained an altar covered in pentagrams, according to The Tampa Tribune.

31 Year Old Joseph ‘Joey’ Meek, Friend of Charleston, SC Church Shooter Dylann Roof Arrested by FBI

31 year old Joseph ‘Joey’ Meek of Red Bank, South Caroina was arrested by the FBI in connection with the Charleston church shooting that left 9 dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Joey Meeks opened up his home to Dylann Roof in the weeks before the June killings of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church. Meek told reporters in late June that on June 10, while he, Roof and their friend Christon Scriven were getting drunk on vodka, Roof announced plans to carry out a mass shooting seven days later at the College of Charleston. Should Meek’s have told the authorities and not just blamed it on the alcohol? Meek says that he did not take Dylann Roof serious, hmm … how do you feel know? If Meek is charged with and convicted of making false statements, he could be facing up to 5 years in prison. However, that number rises to 8 years when the false statements concern certain types of crimes, including international or domestic terrorism.

The man who opened his home to Dylann Roof in the weeks before the June killings of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church has been arrested by the FBI.

Agents picked up Joseph “Joey” Meek Jr., 21, of Red Bank, while he was at work Thursday afternoon, his girlfriend, Lindsey Fry, told The State newspaper shortly afterward.

Meek called her on his cell phone as it was happening, Fry said.

“He just said, ‘They want to talk to me, but I think I’m going to jail,’” she said.

Meek lives in a trailer in Red Bank with his mother, two brothers and Fry, who is 19.

Meek was informed in an Aug. 6 letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia that he was a “potential target” of the federal criminal investigation into the slayings of nine parishioners at the historic “Mother” Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

The letter stated that Meek was under investigation for possible misprision and allegedly making false statements to law enforcement. Both crimes are felonies.

Florida Man Joshua Ryne Goldberg Arrested in Alleged Terror Plot Aimed at 9/11 Kansas City Stair Climb Anniversary Event (VIDEO)

Have you forgotten, because there are still Islamist crazies out there looking to carry out attacks on innocent Americans.

20 year old Joshua Ryne Goldberg was arrested Thursday  in Jacksonville, Florida and charged with plotting to set off an explosion at a 9/11 event. According to court documents, Goldberg was plotting to bomb a 9/11 memorial event,  the Kansas City Stair Climb. Investigators state that he was communicating online with someone he thought was sympathetic to his cause in this terror attack. However, the individual he was communicating with was an FBI informant, and the online conversations were being monitored. According to investigators, Goldberg encouraged the informant to build a pressure cooker bomb similar to what was used in the Boston Marathon bombing. Goldberg could face 20 years in prison.

A Florida man is charged with plotting to set off an explosion at a 9/11 event. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested 20-year-old Joshua Ryne Goldberg Thursday in Florida. Prosecutors say he told an online informant how to make the bomb he wanted.

Investigators originally thought the suspect was recruiting people to carry out attacks from a location in Australia, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues.

It turns out Goldberg was in the U.S., in a home near Jacksonville, where he was taken into custody. He shares the home in Orange Park with his parents.

According to court documents, he had set his sights on bombing a 9/11 memorial event — the Kansas City Stair Climb.

Investigators said he was communicating online with someone he thought was sympathetic to his cause but who was actually an FBI informant, and the online conversations were being monitored. According to investigators, Goldberg encouraged the informant to build a pressure cooker bomb similar to what was used in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Metro Police Officer Shot in Hand Near Tropicana & Nellis Boulevards in East Las Vegas, NV (Update: Hispanic Suspect in Custody)

ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER SHOT … DO POLICE LIVES MATTER?

There has been yet another shooting of a police officer. This time the shooting occurred at about 12:10 p.m. Sunday, near Tropicana and Nellis boulevards. According to the authorities, a man approached the squad car and fired with a semi-automatic handgun at the two officers inside the vehicle. One officer has hit it the hand and taken to the hospital. The officers then exited the vehicle and were able to apprehend the suspect outside a 7-Eleven.

UPDATE I:  Metro Sgt. John Sheahan said two officers were heading to a disturbance call headed northbound on Tropicana and stopped at a red light to turn westbound on Tropicana when they were approached by a man with a semi-automatic handgun who began firing on them. He said one officer was hit in the hand and the other officer was able to chase the suspect a short distance before apprehending him. Sheahan said it appears that the officers did not fire any shots. The suspect is being questioned at the scene. Officers have been doubled up with two in each car since Friday’s shooting in an order made by Sheriff Joe Lombardo.

UPDATE II: At a news conference in front of UMC earlier today, Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said, “You know we just had another officer shot a couple of days ago. It’s a rough time for our officers. We have already changed some of our deployment strategies as we have two-officer units out there today because of the narrative of violence against police across the country and certainly because of what we have seen here (in Las Vegas). That’s four of my officers that have been shot this year. It gets old. It’s tiring. Those men and women are out there trying to do the best that they can to provide service to this community; certainly the one solace that they can take is the vast majority of this community is behind this police department and we know that.”