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

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

Authorities said the suspect, identified as Joseph Couch, 32, shot at motorists on Interstate 75 in southeastern Kentucky on Sept. 7 — hitting a dozen vehicles and wounding five people. The shooting spree spurred a massive manhunt that sprawled 28,000 acres of rugged, dense forest, and utilized helicopters, drones, and on-the-ground search techniques.

But on Tuesday, law enforcement officials scaled back on the search to focus on increasing their presence in nearby residential areas. While Kentucky State Police will lead the search effort at Daniel Boone National Forest, which spans more than 700,000 acres and 21 Kentucky counties, the agency will withdraw its personnel and use aircraft and cameras throughout the forest.

"On day 11, we know that bringing the boots on the ground from the forest into the communities is going to give the best reassurance to our citizens that if he’s still out there, we are right here with you — where you go to school, where you go to church — in the communities with a significantly enhanced presence," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Tuesday.

Beshear noted that reallocating resources into the community will provide a "better public safety outcome." Since the shooting, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said police have received more than 400 tips with a majority of the tips pointing to outside of the forest.

State and local law enforcement will bolster patrols on roadways and increase security at local schools, bus routes and sporting events, according to Burnett.

"We know that people are scared," Beshear added. "The goal is for the community — even with it being kind of scary — to get back to day-to-day life, and the best way we make that transition is a saturation, or even an oversaturation, of law enforcement."

What happened in the Kentucky highway shooting?

Laurel County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 following 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. Officers discovered multiple vehicles parked on the side of the highway with broken windows and visible bullet holes when they arrived.

Authorities said 12 vehicles were found shot on both sides of the roadway and five people were injured with some "severely" wounded. All of them survived.

The shooting caused an hours-long closure of the highway as authorities searched for the suspect. The incident caused multiple counties to hunker down and schools to close.

Laurel County Public Schools returned to in-person instruction on Tuesday with enhanced security measures for bus transportation services, school campuses, and extracurricular activities, school district officials said.

Authorities located 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 of a nearby gun shop, 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 released by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office. The firearm discovered by police matched the description of the one Couch purchased that day.

Couch also told the mother of his child in a text message that he was planning to "kill a lot of people" less than an hour before the incident, according to the affidavit. He added that he planned to kill himself afterward.

Joseph Couch named a fugitive by U.S. Marshals

Both Beshear and Burnett acknowledged Tuesday that authorities did not have evidence or details that would lead to Couch's arrest.

"We don't have a conclusion," Beshear said. "We have an individual that committed a horrific act of evil, that tried to kill numerous people, and we have not located him or brought the investigation to a close."

The U.S. Marshals Service has named Couch a fugitive, according to spokesperson Jeremy Honaker. The Federal Fugitive Task Force, a law enforcement body focused on capturing wanted violent criminals, will provide resources to local and state agencies in the search for Couch.

Couch has been charged in the incident by Commonwealth's Attorney Jackie Steele, the felony prosecutor for Laurel County, with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault.

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