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PHOENIX (AP) --
Three weeks of growing fear among Phoenix drivers after a series of freeway shootings briefly eased when Arizona's governor blasted the news on social media: "We got him!"
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's tweet came just five minutes after a state police SWAT team arrested a 21-year-old father of two as he left a suburban Wal-Mart store Friday night.
Ducey was almost immediately criticized for implying that Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was guilty of the shootings before he had even been booked into jail or appeared in court.
The message's celebratory tone also failed to convey a key fact about the arrest: Authorities have linked Merrill to only four of the 11 shootings, meaning other suspects could still be on the loose.
"When he says, `We got him,' you don't `get' somebody until they're convicted or plead guilty," said Mike Black, a Phoenix criminal defense attorney for 30 years. "He's assuming this young man is guilty."
Merritt is jailed as electronic freeway signs keep urging drivers to report tips. State police say copycats might be shooting guns or other weapons on freeways, so the investigation remains open.
Within hours of Merritt's arrest, his father told The Associated Press that police got the wrong man and were scapegoating his son amid mounting public pressure to catch someone.
In court the next morning, Merritt himself said he was innocent.
"All I have to say is I'm the wrong guy. I tried telling the detectives that," Merritt said. "My gun's been in the pawn shop the last two months. I haven't even had access to a weapon."
Court documents show police were looking for a specific brand and caliber of handgun after testing bullet fragments found in the first four vehicles hit by gunfire. They collected matching weapons from pawn shops, test-fired them and came up with a match to one Merritt had pawned.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said Wednesday that the first shooting is now believed to have occurred on Aug. 27. Three other shootings on Aug. 29 had been thought to be the first in 11 incidents.
The date change comes because the driver of a BMW that was hit was not sure when the shooting happened, Graves said. The car was parked at an airport Aug. 27 and retrieved Aug. 30.
Graves said the change doesn't affect the charges against Merritt.
Police spent Friday watching the landscaper's home, then trailed him to the Wal-Mart, and a SWAT team moved in.
Five minutes later, at 6:52 p.m., Ducey took to Twitter: "BREAKING: We got him! DPS SWAT team is in custody of the individual suspected of I-10 shootings. Apprehended moments ago."
Soon after, Ducey was accused of trying to win political points with an arrest that normally would be announced by the Department of Public Safety.
Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said the governor thought it was important to inform the public of the arrest as soon as possible, and there was no political haymaking involved. Agency Director Frank Milstead had been briefing Ducey on developments regarding the suspect.
"Here was an individual that had the entire community in panic, had injured someone, and the entire community was focused on looking for the individual who did this," Scarpinato said.
Democratic Sen. Martin Quezada, whose Phoenix district straddles the parts of Interstate 10 where many of the shootings were reported, also said he was concerned the governor might be trying to gain political favor. But he said he understood Ducey wanting to quickly spread word of the arrest.
"I can totally understand where the governor would want to put something out there, `We got the guy,'" Quezada said. "But on the other hand, you kind of sit back and reflect ... and you do realize the guy's only been arrested, and everybody deserves their day in court."
Erik Luna, a criminal law professor at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, said a defense attorney might consider the tweet substantial evidence that Merritt cannot get a fair trial. However, Luna believes the announcement was marginal because Ducey used the word "suspected."
"I think that it raises valid concerns, and certainly it could be part of a broader claim of adverse publicity that results in a defendant not able receive a fair trial in a given jurisdiction," Luna said. "But by itself ... it seems a trial judge wouldn't grant such a motion based solely on that tweet."
The arrest followed two false starts in the investigation.
A week earlier, police took a 19-year-old into custody as a person of interest and later released him. Three young men also were arrested and accused of hurling rocks at cars with slingshots, but authorities called them copycats.
Investigators say eight cars were hit with bullets and three were struck with projectiles such as BBs or pellets.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --
As people from around the world head to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit, doctors are preparing to treat illnesses that they may not recognize or that normally would be treated at other facilities.
"Some diseases that are common in other parts of the world aren't regularly seen in the U.S. Our providers know about them but haven't seen them," said Mark Ross, regional manager of emergency preparedness for the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania. "We've made sure our providers know what they look like."
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health issued a special advisory this week listing some infectious diseases of concern. They include typhoid and yellow fever; the chikungunya virus that produces fevers and joint pain; malaria; polio; and tuberculosis.
Typically, 0.3 to 1.3 percent of people attending a mass gathering will need some sort of medical care, "from a Band-Aid to heart surgery," said John Wierzbowski, who heads the department of safety and emergency management at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Papal visit planners have estimated up to 1.5 million people could come to Philadelphia for Sunday's outdoor Mass, the biggest event of Francis' first trip to the U.S. Ahead of the pope's visit, demand for hotels, rail passes and other services was lower than expected. But even an influx of hundreds of thousands of people would put added demand on medical facilities.
At least 18,000 people from more than 100 countries are attending the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families, which drew Francis to Philadelphia. He will attend the meeting's closing festival Saturday after earlier stops in Washington and New York.
At Tuesday's opening ceremony, children held up signs showing how far some had traveled: more than 5,000 miles from Argentina and Nigeria and over 8,000 miles from Vietnam and the Philippines.
The city's Health Department has posted a special World Meeting of Families website with lists of disease symptoms, diagnostics and treatments and instructions on patient isolation and the use of personal protective equipment. It also includes a public health screening tool to aid clinicians in evaluating patients for potential infectious disease.
The department is instructing health care providers to take a detailed travel history from patients and to report diseases to a special hotline.
Security and travel restrictions, including the closure of 25 miles of streets and highways during the papal visit this weekend, have also driven medical planning.
Burn victims would typically go to Temple University Hospital in North Philadelphia. But because of Pennsylvania Hospital's location within the papal safety zone, it has been outfitted with burn carts - containing anti-bacterial dressings, airway management supplies and ointments - to treat people with moderate burns.
As planners expect a largely older crowd, Wierzbowski said, doctors believe a majority of patients needing medical care will be suffering from dehydration, chest pains or minor cuts, scrapes and burns.
Still, he knows there will also be visitors with special needs and serious illnesses, some of them hoping for healing from the pope. They'll require more acute care.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Plunging headlong into the issues of the day, Pope Francis opened his visit to the United States with a strong call Wednesday for action to combat climate change, calling it a problem that "can no longer be left to a future generation." President Barack Obama, in turn, hailed the pontiff as a moral force who is "shaking us out of our complacency" with reminders to care for the poor and the planet.
The White House mustered all the pageantry it had to offer as the pope arrived before an adoring crowd of thousands and a nation that seemingly cannot get enough of the humble pontiff who is rejuvenating American Catholicism while giving heartburn to some of its conservatives.
Cheering crowds, with some people holding out babies for blessings, jammed a parade route along Constitution Avenue as Francis later made a leisurely loop around the streets near the White House in his open-sided popemobile — a white Jeep — for his first direct encounter with the American public.
Speaking in a soft voice and halting English at the White House, Francis delivered a firm message against those who doubt the science of climate change, saying that the warming planet "demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition" of what awaits today's children.
It was a message sure to please the Obama White House, and liberals in general. But the pope had something for conservatives, too, with a pointed call to protect religious liberties — "one of America's most precious possessions."
"All are called to be vigilant,' he said, "to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it."
It was a welcome message to many U.S. bishops and conservatives who have objected to the Obama administration's health care mandate and the recent Supreme Court legalization of same-sex marriage.
With flags snapping, color guard at attention and a military band's brassy marches, Francis stepped from his modest Fiat onto the South Lawn on a crisp fall morning that felt as optimistic as his own persona. Pope and president stood on a red-carpeted platform bedecked with red, white and blue bunting, standing at attention for the national anthems of the Hole See and the United States.
After their opening remarks on the lawn, Obama and Francis pulled up two arm chairs by the fireplace in the Oval Office for a one-on-one meeting where they hoped to find common cause on issues they hold dear — and respectful disagreement where they differ sharply, on subjects such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
Just before the pope arrived, Obama had tweeted to the Holy Father: "Welcome to the White House, @Pontifex! Your messages of love, hope, and peace have inspired us all."
Obama, joking that his backyard is not typically so crowded, told the pope during the welcoming ceremony that the excitement surrounding his visit was a reflection of Francis' "humility, your embrace of simplicity, the gentleness of your words and the generosity of your spirit."
The president singled out the pope's call for focusing on the poor and the marginalized, including refugees fleeing war and immigrants in search of a better life.
Along the parade route, bodyguards ferried several babies from behind police barricades to the Jeep for pontifical kisses. And at one point, a young girl in pigtails and tennis shoes tried to approach the popemobile. When security guards tried to shoo her back, Francis motioned her over and bestowed a papal kiss and blessing.
The pope later in the morning was to speak to America's bishops, an address that was highly anticipated given a certain disconnect between Francis' focus on social justice and a merciful church and the culture wars that America's bishops have waged in recent years over abortion and gay rights.
As bishops have found themselves increasingly on the losing side in the national struggle over marriage and abortion, they have made religious freedom a rallying cry, with a largely domestic focus.
Francis' remarks that religious freedom is "one of American's most precious possessions" could well give them encouragement to keep up the fight.
Obama, sensitive to conservative attacks against his administration, made a point in his remarks of saying "we cherish religious liberty."
From the instant the white-robed and grinning Francis landed in the U.S. on Tuesday, doffed his skullcap in the breeze and clambered into his charcoal-gray Fiat, his visit has electrified wonky Washington, which can be jaded about the comings and goings of world figures.
Washington was the first stop on the pope's six-day, three-city visit to the United States.
Kimberly Johnson, a 27-year-old medical student who lives in Washington, said she arrived outside the security gates at midnight in order to be the first one let into the sectioned-off viewing area that opened at 4 a.m.
"It's not just that he's the pope. He's a cool pope," Johnson said. "He's bringing the Catholic Church into the 21st century and making it a more accessible faith."
The pope took his time getting to the White House, stopping to greet schoolchildren who had gathered outside the Vatican's nunciature. The children took selfies with the pope, hugged him and waved Holy See flags.
Even before he arrived for his first U.S. visit, Francis was fending off conservative criticism of his economic views. He told reporters on his flight from Cuba that some people may have an inaccurate impression that he is "a little bit more left-leaning."
"I am certain that I have never said anything beyond what is in the social doctrine of the church," he said.
From Francis' vantage point, his next stop after the White House was just as critical. The 78-year-old pontiff was meeting with America's 450-strong bishops' conference at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
Many U.S. bishops have struggled to come to terms with Francis' new social justice-minded direction of the church. Nearly all were appointed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They prioritized drawing clearer boundaries for Catholic behavior and belief in the face of legalized abortion, advances in gay rights and the exodus of many Westerners from organized religion.
The American church spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year through its social service agencies, and for years has sought an overhaul of the immigration system to reunite families, shelter refugees and give the poor the chance at a better life. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has increasingly put its resources behind high-profile fights over abortion, contraception and gay marriage.
Hailing from Argentina, the first pope from the Americas also was acting Wednesday to canonize a Spanish friar who brought the Catholic faith to California.
Francis was to celebrate the Mass of canonization for Junipero Serra in Spanish. Several thousand of the 25,000 tickets to the event were set aside for Spanish-speaking people, many from California. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception erected a temporary sanctuary on the east portico for the Mass.
On Thursday, Francis planned to deliver the first papal address ever to Congress, speaking to Republican-majority legislators deeply at odds with Obama on issues such as gay rights, immigration, abortion and climate change. Those same issues are roiling the early months of the presidential campaign.
Francis has been pressing his environmental message ahead of crucial climate change talks later this year in Paris, issuing a major teaching document on humanity's obligation to protect God's creation and aiming to spur world leaders to make commitments to reverse global warming. He will bring that message to the United Nations on Friday.