Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

People take precautions they never thought would be needed as search continues for I-75 highway shooter

Share
LONDON, Ky. -

Jittery residents living near where a gunman opened fire on a Kentucky highway are taking precautions they never thought would be needed in their rural region, as searchers combed the woods Tuesday hoping to find the suspect.

Brandi Campbell said her family has gone to bed early and kept the lights off in the evenings since five people were wounded in the attack Saturday on Interstate 75 near London, a city of about 8,000 people roughly 75 miles (120 kilometres) south of Lexington.

"We go home and lights go off, and we go upstairs and our doors stay locked," she said.

Several area school districts remained closed on Tuesday while a few others shifted to remote learning as the search for Joseph Couch, 32, stretched into a fourth day.

Searchers have been combing through an expansive area of rugged and hilly terrain near where the shooting occurred north of London.

Less than 30 minutes before he shot 12 vehicles and wounded five people, Couch sent a text message vowing to "kill a lot of people," authorities said in an arrest warrant.

"I'm going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least," Couch wrote in the text message, according to the warrant affidavit obtained by The Associated Press. In a separate text message, Couch wrote, "I'll kill myself afterwards," the affidavit says.

The affidavit prepared by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office said that before authorities received the first report of the shooting at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a dispatcher in Laurel County got a call from a woman who told them Couch had sent her the texts 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.

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.

Kentucky State Police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington said troopers had been brought in from across the state to aid in the search. He described the extensive search area as "walking in a jungle," with machetes needed to cut through thickets.

Authorities vowed to keep up their pursuit in the densely wooded area as locals worried about where the shooter might turn up next.

Donna Hess, who lives 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the shooting scene, said she hasn't let her children go outside to play since the shooting.

"I'm just afraid to even go to the door if somebody knocks," she said.

Couch most recently lived in Woodbine, a small community about 20 miles (32 kilometres) 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 on details from the affidavit.

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.

Couch fired 20 to 30 rounds in Saturday's attack, striking 12 vehicles on the interstate, investigators said.

------

Schreiner reported from Louisville, Ky.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A B.C. woman who stole more than $14,000 in volunteer-raised funds that were supposed to be spent on school supplies and programs – including hot meals for vulnerable kids – won't spend any time in jail.

Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus was among approximately 120 people who gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil near the scene of a vicious attack against a 16-year-old in Cobalt.

Dr. Ronald Weiss, who performed nearly 60,000 vasectomies on Ottawa men, establishing him as the "Wayne Gretzky" of the procedure, has died.

A 36-year-old Montreal man who was out on bail after allegedly uttering death threats against his partner is now accused of murdering her on the South Shore.

A 15-year-old boy from Kitchener, Ont. is facing a long list of criminal charges as the Waterloo Regional Police Service wraps up a lengthy swatting investigation.

Local Spotlight

For the second year in a row, the ‘Gift-a-Family’ campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.

Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.

A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.

As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.

A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts – not for themselves, but for those in need.

A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.

Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.

A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.