Schools close as search for gunman who wounded 5 people on Kentucky interstate drags into third day

London, Ky — More than a dozen school districts shut down classes Monday across a wide swath of southeastern Kentucky as a grueling search stretched into a third day for a gunman who opened fire on an interstate highway and wounded five people over the weekend.

Administrators in Rockcastle County, just north of where the shooting took place, told the school community they decided to close classes while the shooter is still at large ”out of an abundance of caution.”

“As always, the safety of our students and our staff is our Number One priority, ” the school district said in a social media message.

To the south of Laurel County, where the shooting took place, schools were also closed in Knox County “as a precautionary measure to ensure student and staff safety,” the district said in a social media message. Classes also were cancelled at three regional college campuses.

Fog temporarily delayed resumption of the search Monday morning, state police said.

Authorities vowed to keep up a relentless pursuit of the gunman as the stress level remained high for residents and law enforcement officers.

Searches have been combing through a rugged, hilly area of southeastern Kentucky since Saturday evening, when a gunman began shooting at drivers on Interstate 75 near London, a small city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Lexington.

“We’re not going to quit until we do lay hands on him,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Sunday night.

Joseph A. Couch, 32, was named first as a person of interest and later as a suspect in the shooting after authorities said they recovered his SUV on a service road near the crime scene. They later found a semi-automatic weapon nearby that they believe was used in the shooting, said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, a spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office.

Laurel County Attorney Jodi L. Albright said Sunday night that no tip from the public is too small and that Couch “will be brought to justice, and justice will be served.”

“That tip may be the tip that solves the case and brings him to justice,” Albright said.

But Albright also acknowledged the vastness of the search area.

“He could be there for a long time, if he’s still alive,” Albright said, adding, “I understand that people are afraid. I get that.”

Capt. Richard Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said authorities are doing everything they can.

“The longer we continue, and the more area we clear and the more places we are sure he is not, the safer people are going to be,” he said. “And I’m confident eventually we’ll figure it out and we’ll find him.”

On Sunday, as another day of searching was ending without any sign of the suspect, Acciardo acknowledged the frustration that law enforcement officers and people who live near the search area are feeling.

“As this continues, it becomes more stressful for the community, it becomes more stressful for the officers that are there because we’re looking ... and we’re trying to find him, and we haven’t found him,” he said.

State police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington, a spokesman for the London state police post, said troopers are being brought in from around 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 of woods.

Acciardo said it appears that the attacker planned the shooting for that location because it is very remote and the terrain is hilly, rocky and hard to navigate.

Pennington urged area residents to lock doors, keep porch lights on and monitor security cameras. The search was focused on a remote area about eight miles north of London.

Authorities said Couch purchased the weapon and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition Saturday morning in London. Couch has a military background, having served in the National Guard for at least four years, said Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office.

The U.S. Army said in a statement that Couch was in the Army Reserve from March 2013 to January 2019 as a 12B combat engineer.

“He was a private at the end of service,” the Army said. “He has no deployments.”

Authorities initially said nine vehicles were struck by gunfire, but later increased that number to 12, saying some people did not realize their cars had been hit by bullets until they arrived home. They said the gunman fired a total of 20 to 30 rounds.

Couch most recently lived in Woodbine, a small community about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the shooting scene. Acciardo said authorities found his abandoned vehicle Saturday and then an AR-15 rifle on Sunday in a wooded area near a highway where “he could have shot down upon the interstate.” A phone believed to be Couch’s was also found by law enforcement, but the battery had been taken out.

Some residents of Laurel County were on edge as authorities searched with a drone, helicopter and on foot in a remote and sparsely populated wooded area near the busy interstate.

Cody Shepherd, waiting to watch a football game at the Pour Boyz Sports Lounge in London on Sunday, said locals were abuzz with speculation. A resident of London, he was at a party Saturday at a friend’s house about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of where the shooting happened.

“We were listening to the police scanners all night,” he said, adding they heard sirens and saw a helicopter overhead.

Acciardo said specially trained officers were deployed through the night in strategic locations in the woods to prevent the gunman from slipping through.

“We’ve got to get him,” Acciardo said.

Copyright Associated Press