FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. - The Latest on a series of shootings on an Arizona highway (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Authorities say a suspected gunman who fired at cars on a highway in the Phoenix outskirts, leaving at least two people injured, has a criminal record.

Arizona Department of Corrections and state Department of Public Safety officials say 36-year-old James David Walker's criminal record includes a second-degree murder conviction in Maricopa County.

DOC records indicate Walker served a 16-year prison sentence on the conviction stemming from a 1995 offence. He was released from prison in 2014, records show.

Walker, of San Tan Valley, was being booked into the downtown Phoenix jail on Wednesday afternoon.

He's facing charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, endangerment, armed robbery, theft of means of transportation and possession of dangerous drugs. Additional charges are pending.

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12:45 p.m.

Authorities have identified a suspected gunman who fired at cars on a highway in the Phoenix outskirts, leaving at least two people injured.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officials say 36-year-old James David Walker of San Tan Valley was being booked into the downtown Phoenix jail Wednesday afternoon.

They say he's facing charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, endangerment, armed robbery, theft of means of transportation and possession of dangerous drugs with additional charges pending.

DPS officials say six vehicles were struck by gunfire including a DPS trooper's vehicle that was shot several times.

Police captured Walker near a stolen car that crashed into a ditch.

It wasn't immediately clear if Walker has a lawyer yet.

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11:20 a.m.

A highway connecting the Phoenix area with northeastern Arizona has reopened after being closed during an investigation into a series of shootings that left two people injured.

Traffic could travel again on a 45-mile stretch of State Route 87 by late Wednesday morning.

Officers arrested a man on suspicion of opening fire at cars on the highway after finding him lying next to a car he stole at gunpoint Tuesday night. His identity hasn't been released.

One person was grazed on the head with a bullet, and another was hit in the leg during the shootings. A state trooper's vehicle also was hit, but the officer wasn't injured.

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8:50 a.m.

Arizona authorities say police found a rifle, body armour and extra ammunition when they arrested a man in a series of highway shootings that left two people wounded.

The state Department of Public Safety says the man was arrested early Wednesday after a police helicopter spotted a stolen car in a ditch along State Route 87 on Phoenix's northeastern outskirts.

Authorities say the man shot at multiple cars on the highway before fleeing and carjacking a vehicle at a gas station. He fired at a state trooper's patrol vehicle during the manhunt.

The trooper wasn't injured, but two motorists were injured in the highway shootings. One person had a minor grazing wound, and another had a leg wound that wasn't life-threatening.

The suspect's identity wasn't released immediately.

News from © The Associated Press, 2016