Manhunt for I-75 shooting suspect enters third day, forcing central Kentucky school districts to cancel classes

Manhunt for I-75 shooting suspect enters third day, forcing central Kentucky school districts to cancel classes



CNN

Schools across much of central Kentucky canceled classes Monday and residents were urged to remain vigilant as a three-day search through the woods for a man suspected of opening fire along I-75.

Joseph Couch, 32, has not been caught since Saturday afternoon, when authorities say he fired an AR-15 rifle off a cliff on the side of a highway about nine miles north of London, Kentucky, striking 12 cars and wounding five people.

While his motive remains unknown, the attack appeared to be a “random act” of violence, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said, according to The Associated Press.

The search, led by Kentucky State Police, was suspended overnight and is expected to resume at 8 a.m. Monday, Root said.

Couch may still be armed and hiding somewhere in the vast, heavily wooded area near where his AR-15, ammunition, car and possibly his phone were found, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Sunday night. Just hours before the shooting, Couch legally purchased a firearm and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, sheriff’s officials said.

It’s also possible Couch committed suicide somewhere in the wilderness, Laurel County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Richard Dalrymple said Sunday.

In addition to helicopters, drones and K-9 teams, ground crews are scouring a mountainous search area that covers thousands of acres and is crisscrossed with ATV trails, said Kentucky State Police spokesman Scottie Pennington, sheriff and spokesman. In some places, they are using machetes to cut through thick brush, Pennington said.

Until Couch is found, police are warning the community to remain alert for signs of his presence and take steps to keep their homes safe.

“You should lock your doors. If you have security cameras, make sure you’re watching them all the time, and maybe leave your porch lights on,” Pennington advised residents. “Take your cell phone with you and make sure your phones are charged because you never know when you’re going to need to call someone or the police.”

Safety concerns also prompted more than a dozen school districts in the region and several other private schools to cancel classes on Monday, including those in Laurel, Jackson and Clay County.

London Mayor Randall Weddle said Sunday that his office is communicating with local school principals, adding: “Of course their priority is to keep our children safe.”

While none of the victims in Saturday’s shooting were killed, several were left with “very serious” injuries, including one person who was shot in the face and another “across the chest,” according to sheriff’s office Deputy Gilbert Acciardo. Others were “critically injured” but were in stable condition Sunday, he said.

Couch, a veteran of the National Guard, has a “very minimal” criminal record in the state, according to Jackie Steele, the district attorney for Laurel and Knox counties. He was charged with terroristic threats, but the charges were dropped earlier this year, Steele said. No other details about the charges were provided.

Authorities searched the suspect’s home Sunday night and hope to obtain information from electronic devices found there, Dalrymple said.

During Sunday evening’s press conference, Root urged the suspect to turn himself in.

“We won’t give up until we get him,” Root said, adding: “This effort won’t stop.”

Search teams face a daunting task as they wade through the vast, remote forest — a task the state police spokesman likened to slogging through a jungle.

“You can’t do it very quickly because you don’t want to leave any stone unturned. You don’t know if he’s in that area. So you have to be very slow in what you do,” Pennington said.

Root estimates that more than 150 federal, state and local personnel are involved in the investigation and search for Couch, although only 40 to 50 of them are on the ground.

While Couch did not appear to target specific people, the attack did appear to be “a planned event,” Acciardo said Sunday.

“At this point we don’t believe he has any outside help,” Acciardo said, though he later noted that it was “very possible” the suspect was using some form of telecommunications.

How long Couch can survive in the wilderness depends on how well he is prepared, which is still unclear to authorities.

After the shooting Saturday, investigators found a vehicle registered to Couch along a forest service road near Exit 49 with an empty gun case inside. The vehicle was “very close to the highway, but not close enough that the suspect could have fired from that location,” Acciardo said.

The suspect allegedly walked to a cliff along the highway and fired from a ledge about 30 feet down, Dalrymple said. Authorities later recovered the AR-15 near the scene, along with a cell phone with its battery removed.

CNN’s Paradise Afshar, Raja Razek, Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.