LONDON, Ky. — Kentucky State Police and agencies are approaching 72 hours since beginning the search for 32-year-old Joseph Couch, the suspect of Saturday's Interstate 75 shooting.
During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Kentucky State Police Trooper Scottie Pennington, a spokesman for the London post, said there is no evidence Couch has left the Daniel Boone National Forest and urged people to suspend outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing and canoeing. Pennington added KSP has answered thousands of calls and will continue focusing efforts on the woods; however, he acknowledged he could’ve left the area.
“This is not a small area; this is not like going across the road and looking into the woods and finding somebody,” Pennington said. “This is a national forest. This is thousands and thousands of acres where Mr. Couch could’ve went. And we have no evidence, at this time, that Mr. Couch has left there.”
Pennington said he urges vigilance as Couch is considered armed and dangerous until he’s found and isn’t sure if he has another weapon. Agencies are using resources such as K-9 dogs, drones and helicopters, Pennington added. He reassured citizens they’re focused on finding him until he’s dead or alive and have not considered ending the search.
"It's hard when people are so in fear right now that there's probably somebody out there," he said. "But I know my fellow officers and troopers and a whole lot of other people have been working their guts out to try to find Mr. Couch and bring this to an end."
Laurel County Sheriff John Root said authorities have visited Couch's home and collected evidence. The Laurel County Sheriff's Office is leading the criminal investigation of Couch while KSP is in charge of the search.
The U.S. Forest Service at the Daniel Boone National Forest announced it was closing trails to help search efforts. They closed the Sheltowee trace National Recreation Trail between US-421 and KY-192.
Meanwhile, Kentucky State Police shared a video on X, showing the thick brush officers are combing through in their search for Couch.
As search efforts continue, the reward for information about Couch has jumped to $35,000. An anonymous donor offered $10,000 and earlier Tuesday, Judy Nicholson, executive director of the United Way of Laurel County, announced the organization was donating $10,000. Reward money for information on Couch started Monday with $15,000.
The man suspected of opening fire on a highway in Kentucky sent a text message vowing to “kill a lot of people” less than 30 minutes before he shot and wounded five people on Interstate 75, authorities said in an arrest warrant.
“I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least,” Couch, 32, wrote in the text message, according to the warrant affidavit filed in court. In a separate text message, Couch wrote, “I’ll kill myself afterwards,” the affidavit says.
The woman, identified in the affidavit as Sara Mills, is a possible associate of Couch. According to background reports and court records, Mills and Couch have been involved in a custody matter involving a child.
The affidavit, written by Capt. Richard Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, said that before authorities received the first report of the shooting about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a dispatcher in Laurel County got a call from a woman who told them Couch had sent her the text messages at 5:03 p.m.
In response to that call, police initiated a tracker on Couch’s cellphone but the location wasn’t received until 6:53 p.m., the affidavit states, almost 90 minutes after the highway shooting.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele issued an arrest warrant for Couch Monday, charging him with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault.
On Sunday, law enforcement officers searched an area near where Couch’s vehicle was found, with a view of I-75. There, they found a green Army-style duffel bag, ammunition and numerous spent shell casings, the affidavit says. A short distance away, they found a Colt AR-15 rifle with a site mounted to the weapon and several additional magazines. The duffel bag had “Couch” hand-written in black marker.
Searchers have been combing thousands of acres in the rugged, hilly area near London, a small city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles south of Lexington.
State police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington, a spokesman for the London post, said troopers are being brought in from across the state to aid in the search focused on a remote area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) north of London. He described the extensive search area as “walking in a jungle” with machetes needed to cut through thickets.
“We have cliff beds. We have sinkholes. We have caves,” Pennington said Monday. “We have culverts that go under the interstate. We have creeks and rivers and the dense brush.”
Authorities vowed to keep up their relentless pursuit in the densely wooded area as local residents worried about where the shooter might turn up next.
“We’re not going to quit until we do lay hands on him,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said.
Rebecca Puryear told the Lexington Herald-Leader she’s thankful to be alive after she was shot across her chest in her right arm. She was with her husband and 4-year-old son coming home after a meal at Olive Garden.
Another bullet burst into fragments upon hitting the door of her Toyota Camry, injuring her left arm, too.
“I looked at my husband and said, ‘What was that?’ He said it was gunshots. I said, ‘Oh my God!’ “ Puryear, 28, told the newspaper.
She was “gushing blood,” but her husband urged her to keep driving. She pulled over a mile up the road and her husband told her to take off her shirt and press it to the wound while he called 911.
Puryear is out of the hospital but will have to have surgery at a later date. .
“This man was out to kill, and he almost did,” Puryear said, adding: “In a blink of an eye you could not be here. I don’t want nobody else’s family to go through this.”
Meanwhile, area school districts were shut down Monday across a wide swath of southeastern Kentucky as the search for Couch stretched into a third day.
Donna Hess, who lives 10 miles from the shooting scene agreed with the decision to close schools.
“I’d be afraid he’d try to hijack the bus and take the kids as hostages,” said Hess, who has a first grader and a preschooler. “I’m worried about everybody because they don’t know where he’s at ... We don’t know what he’s capable of right now.”
Couch most recently lived in Woodbine, a small community about 20 miles south of the shooting scene. An employee of a gun store in London, Center Target Firearms, informed authorities that Couch purchased an AR-15 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition hours before the shooting, the affidavit said.
Joe Arnold, the gun store’s manager, declined to comment Monday. He said he did not want to interfere with the investigation.
“We’d love for him to be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Arnold told the AP.
Kentucky has few regulations on purchasing guns and carrying them in public. The state’s gun laws “are among the worst in the country” according to a report by Everytown For Gun Safety, a gun safety nonprofit group.
Kentucky legislators repealed a law in 2019 that required a permit for carrying a concealed weapon. The state also does not require a background check at the point of purchase.
Authorities in Kentucky said Monday that Couch was in the Army Reserve and not the National Guard, as officials initially indicated. The U.S. Army said in a statement that Couch served from 2013 to 2019 as a combat engineer. He was a private when he left and had no deployments.
Pennington said Monday that military experience doesn’t make Couch a trained survivalist, while the plan is to wear Couch down.
“How long can you really survive?” Pennington said. “We hope he just walks out.”
Authorities said Couch fired 20 to 30 rounds, striking 12 vehicles on the interstate Saturday.
Christina DiNoto, who witnessed the shooting while driving, said Monday the search weighs heavily on her mind.
“To know that he’s still at large — that makes me nervous, honestly,” DiNoto said.