Police shift focus in search for suspect in Kentucky highway shooting: ‘Boots on the ground’

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — The manhunt for a man accused of opening fire on vehicles on a Kentucky highway, injuring five people, continued into its 11th day Tuesday as authorities shifted their focus from the woods to surrounding communities.

Authorities said the suspect, identified as Joseph Couch, 32, opened fire on motorists on Interstate 75 in southeastern Kentucky on Sept. 7, hitting a dozen vehicles and wounding five people. The shooting sparked a massive manhunt spanning 28,000 acres of rugged, dense forest and using helicopters, drones and ground search techniques.

But on Tuesday, law enforcement scaled back their search efforts and focused on increasing their presence in nearby residential areas. While the Kentucky State Police will lead the search in the Daniel Boone National Forest, which spans more than 280,000 acres and 21 counties in Kentucky, the agency will pull its personnel and deploy aircraft and cameras throughout the forest.

“On day 11, we know that sending ground troops out of the woods and into the communities will give our citizens the greatest security. If he's still out there, we'll be right there with them with a significantly increased presence – no matter where they go to school or church,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Beshear noted that redistributing resources to the community will lead to “better public safety.” Since the shooting, Kentucky Police Detective Phillip Burnett Jr. said he has received more than 400 tips, most of which point to areas outside the forest.

Burnett said state and local police will increase patrols on the streets and increase security at local schools, bus routes and sporting events.

“We know people are scared,” Beshear added. “The goal is to get people — even if it's kind of scary — to get back to normal life, and the best way to make that transition is to have a saturation or even oversaturation of law enforcement.”

What happened in the Kentucky highway shooting?

Laurel County Sheriff's officers were dispatched around 5:30 p.m. on September 7 after receiving reports of a gunshot victim on I-75 near Exit 49 and U.S. Route 25, about eight miles north of London, a city about 75 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky. When officers arrived, they discovered several vehicles parked on the side of the road with broken windows and visible bullet holes.

Authorities said 12 vehicles were found with gunshot wounds on both sides of the road and five people were injured, some “seriously.” All survived.

Because of the shooting, the highway was closed for hours while authorities searched for the suspect. Authorities in several counties were put on alert and schools were closed.

Laurel County Public Schools returned to in-person instruction on Tuesday with enhanced safety precautions for bus transportation, school grounds and extracurricular activities, school district officials said.

Authorities found Couch's car the night of the shooting and the next day found an AR-15 in the wooded area near Exit 49 of the highway along with fully loaded magazines. Authorities said at the time that the weapon may have been used in the shooting.

An employee at a nearby gun store, Center Target Firearms, confirmed to police that Couch had purchased an AR-15 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the store the morning of the shooting, according to an affidavit filed by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office. The firearm recovered by police matched the description of the gun Couch had purchased that day.

Couch told his child's mother in a text message less than an hour before the incident that he planned to “kill a lot of people,” the affidavit said, adding that he planned to kill himself afterward.

Joseph Couch declared a fugitive by US Marshals

Both Beshear and Burnett acknowledged Tuesday that authorities had no evidence or details that would have led to Couch's arrest.

“We don't have a conclusion yet,” Beshear said. “We have a man who committed a horrific act, who tried to kill numerous people, and we haven't found him yet and haven't completed the investigation.”

The U.S. Marshals Service has declared Couch a fugitive, according to spokesman Jeremy Honaker. The Federal Fugitive Task Force, a law enforcement agency focused on apprehending wanted violent criminals, will provide resources to local and state authorities in the search for Couch.

Couch was charged by Laurel County District Attorney Jackie Steele with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault in connection with the incident.

Authorities are offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to Couch's arrest.

This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Shooting on Kentucky highway: Police shift focus in search for suspect