Dwellers in the Southeast Kentucky A “stay alert” was urged Sunday after the highway gunman Five people were injured while allegedly camping out and firing at passing cars.
Laurel County police said officers responding to a 911 call early Saturday evening on Interstate 75 found vehicles with bullet holes parked on the side of the highway and several injured people.
“Some of them were so badly injured and bleeding so badly that our deputies actually loaded them up and took them to an area hospital,” Laurel County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Gilbert Acciardo said at a Sunday media briefing. “Everything was chaotic.” The five victims are expected to recover and are listed in stable condition.
Initial reports indicated that the shooting was the result of a road rage incident, the Sheriff’s Office said, but authorities determined that a shooter camped near a highway specialist fired shots at a passing car. One lane of the highway was closed by the police following the incident on Saturday but was later reopened.
Joseph A. Couch, 32, was first named as a person of interest and later as an official suspect – with police warning that he should be considered armed and dangerous. “We’ve got a bit of a break in identifying a suspect early in this case and I really think this is going to be the guy,” Acciardo added.
Police said they found a “small silver SUV” registered to the coach exiting the highway and that the vehicle contained a rifle case. They also found an AR-15 in a wooded area off the highway that may have been the weapon used in the incident.
A Facebook post by the Sheriff’s Office said both ground and drone searches are being conducted.
“Please be vigilant and call 911 if you see the person in question,” said Randall Waddle, mayor of nearby London, KY, in a Facebook post early Sunday morning. “Let’s keep the victims, their families and all our first responders in our thoughts and prayers.”
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