AR-15, body armor found near highway shooting suspect
PHOENIX — Authorities found an AR-15 rifle, several magazines of ammunition and body armor next to a car reportedly stolen by a convicted murderer suspected of shooting two people and endangering almost a dozen more while firing at motorists and police vehicles, authorities said Wednesday.
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, James David Walker, 36, of San Tan Valley was taken into custody shortly after midnight with the help of a K-9 unit.
Six vehicles on State Route 87 near Fountain Hills were hit, with 13 total victims of the assaults, according to a news release from DPS Wednesday afternoon.
Walker was held on suspicion of aggravated assault, endangerment, attempted homicide, armed robbery, theft of means of transportation and possession of dangerous drugs. Walker was released from the Arizona Department of Corrections in October 2011 after serving a 16-year sentence for second-degree murder, records show.
Phoenix shootings bring random highway terror
The investigation into the series of events was continuing Wednesday.
SR 87, also known as the Beeline Highway, was reopened from the Phoenix area to SR 188 about 10:30 a.m.
One motorist's head was grazed by a bullet and another was struck in the leg in the gunfire that began about 8:25 p.m. Tuesday. A patrol cruiser later was struck by a bullet.
Emergency calls came in that a man in a parked vehicle was shooting at motorists on SR 87 with a "rifle or machine gun," Bart Graves, DPS public information officer, said.
A bullet struck one man in a passing car. His head was grazed by a bullet, but he declined transportation to a hospital, saying he would seek medical treatment, Graves said.
Another driver who was shot in the leg sought help at Fort McDowell Casino. That person was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Walker then allegedly carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint at a nearby gas station, fleeing north on SR 87.
The cruiser of a DPS trooper pursuing the vehicle was hit by gunfire, but the trooper was not injured, Graves said.
Authorities lost sight of Walker for about three hours until a Mesa Police Department air unit discovered the stolen car in a ditch off SR 87, Graves said. Troopers found an AR-15 rifle, multiple magazines of ammunition and body armor next to the car, Graves said.
About a half-mile away, Walker was found lying in the fetal position. A SWAT team took him into custody shortly after, Graves said.
Walker was treated for canine bites at a hospital before being released back into DPS custody.
In 1997, Walker, who was 17 at the time, was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder in the October 1995 shooting of a man in Chandler.
He was 16 when he was charged with shooting Roy Rogillio, 40, who had attempted to break up a fight on Halloween, according to a story in The Arizona Republic archives.