Remember the gun on Interstate 10 in Chandler in September?
The gun was found on September 30 around 3:00 a.m. near westbound Interstate 10 and Chandler Boulevard. (Watch video of original report above)
At the time, the Department of Public Safety told ABC15 a sweeper for the Arizona Department of Transportation found a gun in a box and did not release any other information to the public.
ABC15 asked DPS for further updates in October 2015 and November 2015 and was told there was nothing new to report.
RELATED: DPS confirms handgun was found on Interstate 10 and 59th Avenue in Phoenix
.22 CALIBER ON INTERSTATE 10
Four months later, on January 26, 2016, DPS signed off on the report.
Photos obtained by ABC15 show DPS troopers retrieved a .22 caliber rifle from the scene.
According to documents, the ADOT worker was cleaning up trash along Interstate 10 and Chandler Boulevard when he came across a cardboard box up against the median wall.
The sweeper picked up the box to put in his truck but noticed the box was heavy so he looked inside.
The DPS report states the ADOT worker looked inside and found the rifle and called troopers.
RIFLE FROM DETROIT
When DPS troopers arrived on the scene they recovered the rifle and an identification card from Michigan.
DPS ran the firearm and it came back as a stolen rifle from Detroit in 1988. The name on the identification card came back to an individual in Queen Creek.
FREEWAY SHOOTINGS
The rifle was found days after the freeway shootings that happened across the Phoenix-area.
There is no indication this rifle is connected to the 11 confirmed shootings that happened in August and September.
Leslie Merritt Jr. is currently in custody for four of the 11 freeway shootings in the Valley.
No one has been taken into custody for the seven other shootings and DPS has not released any additional information on those incidents.
