The search for the suspect who launched a mass shooting on a Kentucky highway over the weekend, continues Monday as he’s been charged with attempted murder and assault in an arrest warrant.
The search for Joseph A. Couch, 32, who authorities described as “armed and dangerous,” continued Monday in connection with the shooting on Interstate 75, eight miles north of the small city of London, on Saturday evening. Five people were shot and left seriously injured.
The warrant charges Couch with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault.
Once he’s taken into custody, “the court processes will begin quickly with the District Court,” Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit, Jackie Steele, said in a statement to NBC News. He could face other, less serious charges, in connection with the other drivers impacted in the shooting such as property damage and wanton endangerment.
The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office has said that the gunman in the shooting opened fire from three different perches along a ridge that looks down on the interstate. An AR-15, believed to have been used in the shooting, was found near Couch’s vehicle that was found near the scene Saturday night.Deputies were searching for Couch in the remote woods near the scene of the shooting Sunday.
An investigation into the shooting and potential motive remain ongoing.
Couch had served in the National Guard for at least four years, and was a member of an engineer battalion. He is not a felon and has a relatively clean record that includes the March dismissal of a charge of making a terrorist threat and at least one alleged traffic violation, Steele, the prosecutor for the region, said.
Laurel County Public Schools said school is canceled Monday “out of an abundance of caution.”
