Manhunt underway after shooting on highway in Kentucky in the USA

Randall Weddle, mayor of London, Kentucky, told local media that in addition to the injured, there were other injuries in a car accident caused by the shooting.

The shooting does not appear to have been random, he told the Louisville Courier Journal, while a radio host reported that it was triggered by “a dispute between two cars.”

The suspected shooter opened fire from a wooded area off the highway on Interstate 75, Weddle said.

There were “several serious injuries” but no confirmed deaths, local news station WYMT reported.

Authorities were searching for 32-year-old Joseph Couch, who was considered a suspect in the shooting that led to the temporary closure of I-75 in both directions due to an “active shooter situation.”

“Consider armed individuals as dangerous,” the sheriff said in a Facebook post. “Do not attempt to approach them.”

Kentucky State Police spokesman Scottie Pennington posted on Facebook: “We are urging people to stay indoors.”

He later told the Louisville Courier Journal: “We have no idea where (the suspect) is.”

Rural Laurel County lies south of the city of Lexington on I-75, a major north-south highway that runs through the eastern half of the United States.

Saturday's incident came after two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at a school in Georgia.

A 14-year-old boy was charged with murder, while his father, who allegedly bought him the gun as a gift, was charged with manslaughter and premeditated murder.

ALSO READ:

– More weapons than people –

Gun violence is widespread in the United States, a country that has more firearms than residents.

Although polls show that Americans support stronger restrictions on gun ownership, attempts to restrict gun ownership always face fierce political resistance because of a powerful lobby for gun rights, constitutional protections, and a passionate culture surrounding gun ownership.

The gun safety package passed by Congress in 2022 was the most notable in decades, tightening background checks and supporting states that had passed so-called “red flag” laws that allow the confiscation of guns from people considered high-risk.

Still, advocates say much more needs to be done.

That same year, more than 48,000 people died from firearms, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which issued a landmark warning that year declaring gun violence a “public health crisis.”

Issues such as gun laws and gun violence are regularly discussed in elections.

Republican candidate Donald Trump, who is considered a champion of gun rights in his party, posted on social media that “our thoughts are with the victims” of the shooting in Georgia.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor and attorney general of California and a former U.S. senator, called on Congress to “finally” pass a ban on assault weapons.

It would be similar to the law that President Joe Biden helped draft as a senator and that was enacted in 1994. It expired after a decade without being renewed by Congress.