New incidents probed amid spate of freeway shootings
PHOENIX -- Authorities in Arizona are investigating two new possible shootings on Phoenix-area freeways.
The state Department of Public Safety said one incident involved a vehicle window damaged on Interstate 10 Thursday morning after it was hit by a "projectile." Trooper Tim Case said no injuries were reported in that incident.
Police were also investigating a suspected bullet hole in the side of a commercial truck in the Phoenix area.
The DPS said there was a separate report of a gunshot being fired along I-10 several miles to the east, but police were unable to verify it. Case said no damage or injuries were reported in that incident.
A law enforcement source tells CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that ballistic evidence recovered indicates that some of the bullets are believed to have come from the same gun. The source said that at least some of the shootings are believed to have been fired from a moving vehicle.
Law enforcement are concerned about the safety of motorists on the I-10 freeway but adding to the concern is that I-10 is a major artery to the University of Phoenix Stadium where the Cardinals have their home opener against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday
Thursday's reports follow 10 previous shootings in which the DPS says bullets or projectiles hit vehicles in recent weeks. All but two were on I-10.
DPS says seven of the 10 incidents involved bullets and the others involved unspecified projectiles. A list released by DPS indicates the 10 vehicles struck through Wednesday included three pickups, three passenger cars, two box trucks, an SUV and a commercial tour bus with no passengers aboard.
No one has been seriously hurt, although one bullet shattered a windshield and broken glass cut a 13-year-old girl.
Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead called the incidents "domestic terrorism crimes."
"Anytime that you have multiple shootings against American citizens on a highway, that's terrorism," Milstead said. "They're trying to frighten or kill somebody."
Jonathan Lowe of CBS affiliate KPHO in Phoenix reports some Arizona residents say they are living in fear.
"Why would somebody shoot at anybody at all?" one man asked. "Especially to shoot at some innocent person? I mean, that's just insane."
Milstead's agency brought in the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local police to help. Authorities were conducting surveillance and deploying undercover detectives and members of the SWAT team and a gang task force.
"This is a real and continuing threat to Arizona motorists," Milstead said at a news conference Tuesday.
Juan Campana works at an appliance business near where many of the shootings occurred. He was surprised to look up and see helicopters over the scene of Wednesday's shooting.
Campana said he's not taking the freeway anymore.
"I go through the streets when I go home," he said.
Police have been asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect, including putting messages on freeway billboards urging people to report suspicious activity. They quadrupled the reward Tuesday to $20,000.
DPS spokesman Bart Graves said officials would not discuss the surveillance or other aspects of its investigation. Police do not know if all of the shootings are connected or whether a copycat might be at work.
"We're not going to give the nuts and bolts of our investigation," Graves said, adding that doing so "would help the bad guy."
Investigators don't know a possible motive for the shootings, Graves said.
Milstead said drivers are fortunate that no one has been killed or seriously hurt, but if the incidents continue, "It's just a matter of time before there is a tragedy."
The shootings began Aug. 29 when two vehicles were struck in a half-hour span on Interstate 10 between 19th and 59th avenues. A third vehicle was hit on the same freeway near 16th Street later that day.
A fourth vehicle was shot Aug. 31 in the same area.
On Tuesday, a passenger window on a Phoenix police sergeant's personal car shattered while he was driving to work before dawn on I-10 between 35th and 43rd avenues, according to DPS officials. The officer was not injured. Another shooting happened nearby a minute later.
The shootings brought back memories of other random highway and roadside shootings that have occurred around the country over the past decade, most notably the sniper attacks that terrorized the nation's capital more than a decade ago.
In other cases, a man was convicted last year of terrorism charges after opening fire on a busy Michigan highway because he believed the drivers were part of a government conspiracy against him. An Ohio man took shots at several cars and houses over several months in 2003, killing one, before being caught and sent to prison.
Law enforcement officials who helped crack the cases in Ohio and Michigan described the difficult task of nabbing a suspect in highway shooting investigations.
The efforts require a large number of officers who are ready to flood an area immediately after shots are fired, said Lt. Ron Moore, who commanded a Michigan task force that investigated the 2012 spree in which 23 vehicles were shot on or near Interstate 96.
"You have to bring all the resources you can to bear on the problem - and that's exactly what we did," said Moore, an officer in Wixom, Michigan.