Five injured after shooting near Kentucky Highway, ‘armed and dangerous’ person identified

Five people were seriously injured in a shooting near a highway in Kentucky on Saturday evening. The search is underway for a person who is considered “armed and dangerous.” authorities said.

The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said a section of Interstate 75 eight miles north of the small town of London was closed during the police response. The interstate was later reopened.

“Officers found that nine vehicles had been shot at on I-75 north and south, and five people were seriously injured,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said Sunday that all five injured people were expected to survive. He added that 50 to 60 police officers had been searching for a suspect until 3 a.m. Sunday and the search had resumed at daybreak.

“Thankfully, no one was killed,” London Mayor Randall Weddle said in a video posted on Facebook. “But we ask you to continue to pray.”

The mayor had previously said some people were injured by gunfire and collisions, but the sheriff’s statement did not confirm how many people were injured by gunfire rather than the accidents.

London’s Saint Joseph’s Hospital said in a statement that “several patients” were admitted in the attack and that they were all being treated for minor injuries.

“We are devastated by the events that occurred Saturday evening along Interstate 75 in Laurel County, Kentucky,” the hospital said.

A spokesman for the University of Kentucky’s Albert B. Chandler Hospital in Lexington said two patients were admitted as a result of the incident, but did not immediately provide further information about them.

The Kentucky State Police and the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office have named 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch as the wanted person. He is described as white, 5’10” tall and weighing 150 pounds.

On the night of the shooting, police officers found a vehicle while searching the area. Acciardo said this was a “happy coincidence” that led them to identifying a suspect.

A gun case was found in the vehicle, and on Sunday authorities discovered an AR-15 weapon. The weapon is being examined to determine if it is the weapon used in the shooting, Acciardo told reporters.

“We have to rely on ballistics to determine whether that was the case or not,” said Acciardo. “There were also several magazines inside, fully loaded magazines.”

Acciardo said his office had not yet listed Couch as a suspect, but was confident they could lock him up in a remote area and find him on Sunday.

“I just feel like we’re going to get him today, I really do,” he said.

In a statement shared on Facebook, the sheriff’s office said people should not approach Couch, but should immediately report his whereabouts to authorities if they see him.

His father, Dale Couch, told NBC News he “couldn’t believe” the news that police were looking for his son. He and his son don’t have a great relationship and haven’t spoken in nearly three years, his father said.

“I just prayed that everyone was okay and that he turned himself in,” his father said.

Since he no longer lives in Kentucky, he learned the news last night through a call from his daughter. He added that he did not want to say much about it because he did not have any further information.

“If I knew where he was, believe me, I would talk to him to get him to turn himself in,” he added.

“A very loud noise”

Christina DiNoto was on a road trip from Rochester, New York, with a friend when her car was shot at, DiNoto told NBC News.

“We just kept driving. I was in the middle lane and suddenly we heard a very loud noise, almost like an explosion,” DiNoto said.

They both jumped up from their seats and initially thought a rock had come through a window, but could see no damage to the vehicle. Then, DiNoto said, they saw a person in a white truck pull off the road to their right and assumed the noise was from a blown tire.

It was only later, when the two were in Knoxville, Tennessee, that DiNoto saw the damage to their Toyota 4Runner: a dent in one of the SUV’s “thick” rims.

“And above that, on the rear corner panel, there are a few chips of paint missing,” DiNoto said. “So it looks to me like it was a ricochet, and if I had to guess, I would guess that the white truck next to us ricocheted and hit my vehicle.”

DiNoto said it was “very surreal and scary” to be part of an active shooting scene.

“It’s something you only see on the news, you know? And we were literally in the middle of it, so it didn’t click right away,” DiNoto said. “But after sitting there and thinking about it, I realized how lucky we were that we weren’t seriously injured or even killed.”

Governor Andy Beshear said on social media platform X on Saturday that he was aware of the situation.

“We are actively monitoring the situation and offering support wherever possible,” he said.

Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are on site to assist state police and local authorities, the ATF said.