Police find suspect’s car, AR-15 after I-75 shooting in Kentucky. Manhunt continues.

Police found a car and a gun belonging to the man suspected of shooting five people along Interstate 75 in Southern Kentucky on Saturday, but they had not found the alleged shooter by the time they suspended their search at nightfall Sunday.

Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, spokesman for the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, said Sunday that police found a silver Toyota registered to 32-year-old Joseph Couch near the interstate on Saturday night, establishing Couch as a person of interest in the shootings.

The car was parked atop a hill on a U.S. Forest Service Road near interstate Exit 49, the site of the shootings about nine miles north of London. Police found a rifle case in the car.

Early Sunday afternoon, in the same area, police found an AR-15 assault-style rifle they believe was used in the shootings. Police said Sunday night Couch had bought the gun legally at a store in London Saturday morning, a few hours before the shooting, along with 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Police recovered most of the ammunition at the site of the shooting, according to Richard Dalrymple, the lead investigator for the sheriff’s office. Acciardo said authorities don’t know why the suspect ditched the gun, and they don’t know if he has more guns.

Police also found a cell phone they believe was Couch’s, but the battery had been removed.

Acciardo said investigators think Couch spent Saturday night in the woods of north Laurel County and was still there throughout Sunday.

The search was “slow-going” because of the rugged terrain and thick woods, he said.

“He couldn’t have picked an area that’s any more difficult and remote for us to try to find him,” Acciardo said.

Couch is suspected of opening fire on motorists on both sides of I-75 from a ledge on a cliff that overlooks the interstate around 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Police first said nine vehicles were hit, but later said some motorists didn’t realize their vehicles had been hit until they got home.

Police said Sunday the shooter hit 12 vehicles.

Five people were seriously hurt, but police said none of them suffered life-threatening injuries.

“I can’t stress (enough) how chaotic this was,” Acciardo said of the scene when first responders arrived, with glass shot out of cars and people bleeding.

Police said Couch should be considered armed and dangerous, and they encouraged people to call 911 if they see him.

Police said Couch did not seem to be targeting specific people on the interstate, and they have not established a motive. Couch appeared to pick that spot for an attack because of the wooded areas around it, Acciardo said.

The sheriff said they’ve been “bombarded” with tips about Couch, but he noted that’s a good thing. He also said Couch’s family is cooperating with investigators.

Almost 20 miles of the interstate, between Mt. Vernon and London, were shut down for about three hours Saturday night as police searched for Couch.

The interstate remained open on Sunday, but Exit 49 and some side roads were closed. Acciardo urged people to remain vigilant and avoid the area.

Four of the shooting victims were traveling on I-75 from out of the state. The other, 28-year-old Harlan County resident Rebecca Puryear, told the Herald-Leader she was driving with her husband and young son when she was shot in the arm and chest.

Puryear said she thought the shot came from a hillside overlooking the interstate.

Sunday 5 p.m. news conference

Officials held several news conferences to provide updates on developments Sunday, including one at 5 p.m.

London Mayor Randall Weddle described the incident as a “shock” and said some businesses closed and churches canceled services Sunday because the shooter remained at-large.

“Scared. Frustrated,” Weddle said of public reaction in London. “They want this individual found.”

Acciardo said about 40 to 50 officials from local, state and federal agencies are helping with the search, including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Sunday 7 p.m. news conference

As dusk fell, Acciardo said officers were still looking for Couch but would suspend the search at dark because of the potential danger to officers.

Police had not found any further evidence, but believed Couch was still in the woods near the interstate exit where the shootings happened.

Officers would stay overnight in the woods, as they did Saturday night, to ensure Couch didn’t get out of the area, he said.

“We’re gonna continue to contain the area,” he said.

Acciardo said police would continue focusing their search in that area unless they received a credible tip about him being elsewhere.

He said police had checked out tips throughout the day Sunday about Couch being in other places.

Those tips didn’t pan out, but are an indication that the public wants to help police catch the gunman, he said.

Acciardo said he had no information about whether the alleged shooter was having a mental-health crisis when he randomly fired into vehicles, but he said it’s legitimate to wonder why someone would do that.

“A normal person doesn’t do this,” he said.

Sunday 9 p.m. update

In addition to confirming Couch had bought the gun the same day as the shooting, authorities confirmed that Couch had military experience, serving at least four years in the National Guard in an engineer battalion.

Master Trooper Scottie Pennington, a Kentucky State Police spokesman, said the agency had called in troopers from other areas of the state to help look for Couch.

He described the area being searched as a “jungle,” where officers need machetes to cut through some thickets.

Laurel County Sheriff John Root and other officers said they would not stop searching until they catch Couch or find that he killed himself in the woods, which they raised as a possibility.

“We’re not gonna quit until we lay hands on him,” Root said.

Schools respond

Acciardo said schools in Laurel County and East Bernstadt, an independent district in the county, had decided to close Monday because the gunman was still at large.

Schools systems in Knox County, Clay County and Rockcastle County also announced they would be closed Monday.

Jackson County Schools officials said in a Sunday post that they were also monitoring the situation.

Beshear discusses shooting

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear discussed the shooting Sunday afternoon at the opening of the Lexington SC Stadium.

“I want to thank the multiple different law enforcement groups that are there, that worked throughout the night and are working now to try to make sure that the area is safe,” Beshear said. “Something’s got to change. We have to do better. You shouldn’t be scared going to school or driving to work.”

Activist groups weigh in

Kentucky chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, a group that advocates for stricter gun control laws, called for an end to gun violence in the commonwealth in a joint press release on Sunday.

With the 14th-highest rate of gun deaths of any state in the nation, Kentucky sees an average of 827 gun deaths every year, according to the release.

“We know that senseless gun violence has no place in our communities, but time and time again, our lawmakers would rather offer thoughts and prayers than actually take action to keep them off our streets. How many more times do our communities have to be torn apart before our lawmakers do something about this?” said Cathy Hobart, a volunteer with the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in the release.

Alexander Hones, a volunteer student with the Kentucky chapter of Students Demand Action and a student at Dupont Manual, said his generation refuses to accept that gun violence is unavoidable.

“Just days ago, students like me in Georgia were ducking for their lives under desks when they should have been focusing on learning,” Jones said. “Now we’re forced to do the same thing in our cars. When will this end?”

Cameron Drummond of the Herald-Leader contributed to this report.