21 Year Old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. Indicted on 15 Felony Counts, Including Aggravated Assault, Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm and Others

21 year old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was indicted Friday by a grand jury on 15 felony counts, including aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, disorderly conduct, endangerment and carrying out a drive-by shooting. However, prosecutors did not file terrorism charges against Merritt in the highway shootings. Authorities had called these shootings an act of domestic terrorism. Mettitt was arrested on September 18 at a Wal-Mart. Merritt remains in jail on a $1 million bond.

A grand jury on Friday indicted a man suspected in four of the freeway shootings that have rattled the Phoenix area since late last month.

The indictment of 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. replaces a 16-count criminal complaint announced earlier in the week.

Merritt, of suburban Glendale, was indicted on 15 felony counts, including aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, disorderly conduct, endangerment and carrying out a drive-by shooting.

Prosecutors did not file terrorism charges that authorities originally sought against the landscaper and father of two who was arrested Sept. 18 at a Wal-Mart. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery previously said Arizona’s terrorism laws enacted after 9/11 focus mostly on protecting public utilities from attack and would not apply to the freeway shootings.

Using ballistics tests, Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives tied Merritt to four of the 11 shootings that occurred on Phoenix-area freeways between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10.

Arizona Police Investigating Oscar De La Torre Munoz in Freeway Shootings … Arrested Person of Interest on Unrelated Marijuana Possession Charge (VIDEO)

Possible break in the Arizona highway shootings …

19 year old Oscar De La Torre Munoz is being investigated by Arizona police as a person of interest in the numerous shootings that have occurred on the heavily-traveled Interstate 10 near Phoenix. Oscar De La Torre Munoz was arrested on a separate marijuana possession charge and booked into jail. At least 11 shootings have taken place in I-10 which the authorities are calling an act of domestic terrorism. According to Fox News, the man taken into custody in Phoenix Friday allegedly boasted to friends of his involvement in a rash of freeway shootings over the last 12 days.

Authorities in Arizona arrested a 19-year-old man considered a person of interest in a spate of shootings on the heavily-traveled Interstate 10 near Phoenix on an unrelated marijuana possession charge.

Oscar De La Torre Munoz was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Friday. Munoz, 19, of Avondale, was taken into custody along with his mother Friday morning at a gas station a few miles from I-10, officials with the state’s Department of Public Safety said.

His mother was questioned but later released.

Is Oscar De La Torre Munoz the Phoenix Highway shooter?

Phoenix Freeway Shootings: Man Questioned By Police Faces Unrelated Charges.

Earlier Friday, the man was taken into custody and questioned as police sought to find whoever is behind the shootings that have terrified Phoenix drivers, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. The shootings on or near Interstate 10 occurred over nearly two weeks. Only one person has been injured.

The department said the man is not a suspect in the shootings but called him “a person of interest” in a statement Friday night.

“This person that we detained is for questioning, it’s not solely about this I-10 shooting situation. We’re interviewing and asking him about a number of things,” Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told reporters Friday.

BREAKING NEWS: Second Prison Escapee David Sweat Shot and Captured by Police in Constable, NY Near the Canadian Border (Video: Police Press Conference)

THE THREE WEEK MANHUNT IS OVER … DAVID SWEAT SHOT AND CAPTURED.

David Sweat, the convicted killer who had escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York has been shot and captured in the upstate New York town of Constable, less than six miles from the Canadian border. In a press conference following the arrest of convicted murderer David Sweat, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said “The nightmare is finally over.” Sweat was shot twice in the torso by authorities and was taken to the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, NY in stable condition.  The shooting occurred about 3:20 PM after Sgt. Jay Cook saw a suspicious man walking down a roadway in the Town of Constable.

NBC News:

Convicted murderer and escaped inmate David Sweat was shot near the Canadian border Sunday by a New York state police officer, according to authorities.

“The nightmare is finally over,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference late Sunday. “It took 22 days but … let’s give a big applause to the men and women of law enforcement who did a great job.”

Sweat was wounded but is alive and was taken into custody, according to the New York State Police. He was spotted by New York State Police Sgt. Jay Cook at about 3:20 p.m. in the town of Constable, less than six miles from the Canadian border, police said in a statement.

Police Press Conference Following the Capture of David Sweat

New York Prison Guard Gene Palmer Arrested for Providing Tools to Escaped Prisoners Richard Matt & David Sweat

57 year old prison guard Gene Palmer has been arrested in connection with the prison escape of convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.  Palmer was charged Wednesday with promoting prison contraband in the first degree, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and one count of official misconduct. According to court documents, Gene Palmer is accused of accepted paintings from the two convicts in return for tools. Palmer is said to have destroyed the paintings following the prison escape. Palmer attorney stated that his client “did not know that Joyce Mitchell had conned him into giving contraband to these two individuals.” Palmer worked at the prison for 27 years.  Bail was set at 50,000 bond or $25,000 cash bail.

NBC News – New York Prison Guard Gene Palmer Arrested.

A guard at the New York prison where two convicted killers escaped earlier this month accepted paintings from them in return for tools, according to court documents.

Gene Palmer is alleged to have later destroyed the paintings — burning some of them in a fire pit at his home and burying others in woods nearby — after Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora on June 6.

Palmer was charged Wednesday with promoting prison contraband in the first degree (a class D felony), two counts of tampering with physical evidence (a class E felony) and one count of official misconduct (a class A misdemeanor). The charges carry prison terms ranging from 15 months to seven years.

The documents allege that Palmer provided a flat-head screwdriver and needle-nose pliers on “at least four separate occasions” beginning as early as November 2014. According to the complaint, this was a result of Palmer receiving paintings from the Matt and Sweat.

Police Investigate Possible Sightings in Steuben County of Two Escaped NY State Prison Convicts Richard Matt & David Sweat (Also, Male Corrections Officer Placed on Leave)

The authorities are investigating two possible sightings in Steuben County, NY of the the two convicts who escaped from the maximum-Security Prison Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. One witnesses spotted two men on June 13 walking near the Gang Mills rail yard on Rita’s Way in the town of Erwin. The next day, two men with the same description were spotted walking along County Route 115 in the town of Lindley, heading toward the Pennsylvania Border. Convicted murderers, Richard Matt and David Sweat, have been added to the U.S. Marshals’ most wanted list.

The list “is reserved for the worst of the worst,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton. “There is no question David Sweat and Richard Matt fall into this category.”

Authorities warned that it could take some time as the massive manhunt enters its second week in the area of the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

CNN – Possible sights of escaped prison convicts:

Police are pursuing possible sightings of two men who may fit the descriptions of the murderers who broke out from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

The sightings happened in Steuben County last weekend, New York State Police said in a news release Friday evening.

The development is another lead in the search for escapees Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 35, which is now on its 15th day.

“Witnesses spotted two men on June 13 walking near the Gang Mills rail yard on Rita’s Way in the town of Erwin,” police said. “The next day, two men with the same description were spotted walking along County Route 115 in the town of Lindley, heading toward the Pennsylvania Border.”

The unconfirmed sightings came from two separate individuals, police spokesman Beau Duffy told CNN on Saturday.

UPDATE I: Correction officer suspended in connection with NY prison break.

A correction officer was suspended Friday as part of the investigation into the escape of two inmates who broke out of a New York state prison and are still at large, officials said.

A statement by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said that due to the ongoing investigation, no more information was immediately available.