PHOENIX (AP) — For months, metropolitan Phoenix residents lived in fear as shots were fired at motorists on the freeway at random. Drivers avoided highways, school buses took different routes and signs were posted telling people to be careful. The head of the Arizona Department of Public Safety called the shootings the work of a "domestic terrorist," and authorities heightened patrols and surveillance in pursuit of what appeared to be a serial shooter. Ulises Ferragut Jr., one of Merritt's defense attorneys, said Wednesday that he thinks prosecutors and law enforcement were under pressure to make an arrest and soothe the community's fears. Allowing MCAO's statements to stand would constitute a tacit endorsement of the State's misleading the public with utter impunity. Merritt's lawyers have contended ballistic tests cast doubt on authorities' claim that their client was behind four of the 11 freeway shootings.