Search continues for highway shooting suspect charged with attempted murder

LONDON, Ky. - Joseph A. Couch spent $2,914.40 to buy an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and a thousand rounds of ammunition on Saturday, and then sent a series of alarming text messages.

“I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least,” Couch wrote in one message, according to a police affidavit in support of arrest warrants for Couch. In another message, which the affidavit said was sent at 5:03 p.m., he added, “I’ll kill myself afterwards.”

Shortly after, authorities said, Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 in rural Kentucky and shot at passing motorists, seriously wounding five people and hitting at least a dozen vehicles before fleeing.

The shooting spawned an intense search that stretched into its third day Monday, with dozens of officers combing the rugged, heavily forested area with dogs and a drone with an infrared scanner. And it left the surrounding community increasingly on edge.

In the arrest warrants, one in reference to each of the seriously injured victims, Couch, 32, is charged with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault. Authorities said Monday that a reward of up to $15,000 — $5,000 from the Kentucky State Police and $10,000 from an anonymous donor — was being offered for information about Couch’s whereabouts.

The text messages on Saturday were sent to a woman who then called law enforcement to report the threats, the affidavit says. Reached by phone Monday by a reporter, the woman declined to comment. The messages offer the most telling glimpse so far into Couch’s mental state on Saturday.

Officials said they believed that the attack was planned, but that it was not aimed at particular individuals. Deputy Gilbert Acciardo of the sheriff’s office in Laurel County, which includes London, said that though the motive was unclear, Couch was “committed” to his plan.

All five victims were in stable condition as of Sunday and were expected to survive, Acciardo said. He told The Courier Journal that one person had been shot in the face, another in the arm and another in the chest.

His success in evading law enforcement has unnerved people in the surrounding area. Schools and a community college in a seven-county area canceled classes Monday.

Police repeatedly warned local residents to lock their doors, check on their neighbors and report anything suspicious.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.