LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Nearly a week later, the hunt for the man responsible for shooting five people on I-75 continues. On Friday, Kentucky State Police said the search for Joseph Couch has extended deeper into the Daniel Boone National Forest.

What You Need To Know

  • Nearly one week later, alleged mass shooter, Joseph Couch is still not found 

  • Exit 49 on Interstate 75 reopened Thursday night  

  • On the Rocks Liquor, in nearby Rockcastle County, closed early last Saturday and did not reopen out of precaution until Monday 

  • Laurel County Judge Executive David Westerfield said the plan is for Laurel County Schools to resume class on Monday

Couch is still nowhere to be found. For community members, it’s an incident still on the forefront of their minds.

On the Rocks liquor store is in neighboring Rockcastle County off Highway 25 and I-75. It’s off of exit 59 from the interstate, the exit down from exit 49, the heart of the manhunt for Couch.

“We did close early that night just about dusk and we close the following day just for safety of our customers and our employees,” said general manager, Bradley Callahan.

Callahan said the store reopened Monday for regular business. The Laurel County resident travels I-75 every day to get to work.

“It makes you pause. I go over that bridge every single day and I look around and just thinking of things I’d never thought of before because like I said you see it on the national news but you never thought it would be at home yet here we are,” Callahan said.

Thursday night, exit 49 on I-75 was reopened for traffic. As the community looks to move forward from the event, Laurel County Judge Executive David Westerfield says people should continue to lock their homes and car doors.

“I know the community is still on pins and needles as they might say, but we just need to continue to take precautions,” Westerfield said.

Westerfield says schools are planning to be back in session on Monday after three days off and two nontraditional instruction days. 

“We’re just going have to go back to our daily routines and do what we have to do and hopefully, maybe this weekend he will be apprehended but we need to get back to some kind of normal,” Westerfield said.

“We’re continuing business as normal, trying to get back to some normalcy of life, but it’s still at the forefront of your mind,” Callahan said.

A $35,000 reward is being offered for the capture of Couch. 

At a Thursday morning news conference, KSP and Gov. Andy Beshear,k D-Ky., said they’re working with area districts that remain closed on a safe back to school plan.

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