KANSAS CITY (AP) – A 27-year-old Missouri man accused of shooting at several vehicles along busy Kansas City highways and wounding three drivers will be appointed a public defender after telling a judge he can’t afford to pay for an attorney.

KCTV-TV reports Mohammed Whitaker of Grandview appeared in Jackson County court Monday with his hands shackled and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit. He is being held on $1 million bond on 18 felony counts stemming from highway shootings that started in early March.

Police say they had Whitaker under surveillance for about a week before arresting him Thursday night in Grandview, only a few miles from an area where many of the shootings occurred.

His preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled for May 1.