One person was killed and a dozen injured in a drive-by shooting spree Thursday as a gunman roamed the streets in the southwestern US state of Arizona, police said.

Over the course of one-and-a-half hours, a suspect opened fire in at least eight sites around communities outside Phoenix, apparently at random, before he was taken into custody at a traffic stop.

As well as the fatality, three other people were shot while another nine suffered minor injuries including from broken glass. None of the injuries were thought to be life-threatening.

"We don't know what the motive was, we don't have an idea of what this person was thinking when he went out and did this," said Peoria police spokesman Brandon Sheffert.

"Obviously we want to figure that out, because there's a lot of scared people -- a lot of people who this affected," he told a press conference held indoors due to sweltering heat wave temperatures of up to 118F (48C) in Phoenix.

The suspect was stopped after firefighters spotted a vehicle matching the description of multiple reports, and he did not resist arrest. One weapon was recovered from the vehicle.

The incident follows recent mass shootings in the nearby states of California, where a rail yard employee killed nine people last month, and Colorado, where ten died at a grocery store in March.

There were more than 43,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.