The metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona apparently has been under siege by a gunman who cruised the inner city highways randomly firing their gun into adjacent cars.  I do not know where I have been (well OK, I have actually been out of town for much of this time) but I must admit to being completely unaware of the mad drive by car shooter. 

Apparently nobody has yet been hit and only one girl was hurt by one of these shooting incidents.  And I do not want to minimize how irresponsible, psychopathic is such behavior.  But I have to laugh at the HEADLINE (it was actually capitalized in yesterday's Statewide newspaper "of public record, The Arizona Republic) Associated Press article of an arrest finally made in the shootings.  [Well actually at the same time of this arrest, they had quietly released someone else they had previously arrested on made up charges while accusing them of these shootings.]

Curiously, the arrest is only for the first four shootings, while several others apparently were not able to be linked to the perp.  So we are expected to believe that there are one or more copycat shooters who were so inspired by press accounts that they too leaped into their vehicles and hit the highways to attempt to plug their fellow drivers.  [And we are reminded that juveniles were recently arrested for tossing (deadly) rocks off the freeway overpass at oncoming cars to bolster the copycat claim.]  Discussing copycats means the State Police have been unable to link the perp to any subsequent shootings and indeed may have exculpatory evidence exonerating him from these events (like maybe he was embarrassingly already under State Police surveillance when they occurred).

The father of the perp says anyone who believes his son was involved in doing these shootings is a moron.  How true.  From the lengthy article's content it is as easy to alternatively propose that the Director of the State Police, Frank Milstead, was just as likely to have jumped into any one of several of their RICOed vehicles and drive out randomly shooting at the neighboring vehicles out on the freeway just to drum up a little business for the State Police before a budget hearing. 

I can say that because the article was big on arrest and not so big on the evidence presumably gathered to get an arrest warrant.  They were big on the State Police press conference and not so big on demanding the proof.

But the biggest display of lack of concern for "public safety" and complete need for the display of show was the manner of the perp's arrest.  The Department of Public Safety (aka the State Police)  could have easily arrested the perp in his car, in a secluded area, or far away in a parking lot or in his home.  Instead they decided to allow the perp to drive to a highly populated Wal-Mart and then once he went inside the store they conducted a massive machine gun waving incursion by force into the store to terrorize everyone anywhere near the place.  They then congratulated themselves on a job well done afterwards for the ever eager to please press.  After all they gave the press and you State TV viewers a great show.