‘We will wear him down,’ say Kentucky police as search for interstate shooting suspect nears 48 hours

(CNN) — Almost 48 hours after a gunman shot five people on a Kentucky interstate, police say they’re hoping that constant pressure and an intense search effort involving drones, helicopters, dogs and dozens of officers will lead to the suspect’s capture.

Joseph Couch, 32, has evaded capture since Saturday afternoon, when authorities say he fired an AR-15 from a cliff ledge on the side of the interstate about nine miles north of London, Kentucky, striking 12 cars and wounding five people.

Crews from federal, state and local agencies are scouring the vast, densely wooded area near where responders found Couch’s AR-15, ammunition, car and a phone thought to be his.

“Our goal is to apply steady pressure and wear Mr. Couch down the longer he is in the woods,” Kentucky State Police spokesperson Scottie Pennington said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “Hopefully he has no water and nothing to eat.”

The remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest encompasses thousands of acres and includes sinkholes, caves, culverts, creeks and rivers. In some places, officers are using machetes to slice through thick brush, Pennington said earlier.

Though Couch’s motive is still unknown, the attack appeared to be a “random act” of violence, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said, according to The Associated Press. Just hours before the shooting, Couch legally purchased a firearm and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, officials from the sheriff’s office said.

An arrest warrant has been issued charging Couch with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault, Jackie Steele, the commonwealth attorney for Laurel and Knox Counties, told CNN.

A $15,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to Couch’s arrest, according to Kentucky State Police .

“This message is to him: You can run, but you can’t hide,” Randall Weddle, the mayor of London, Kentucky, said on CNN Monday afternoon.

“We have some of the best agencies in the United States right here in the state of Kentucky, and I am confident they’re going to catch him,” he added.

Police also urged Couch to turn himself in.

“Hopefully he’ll eventually just walk out the woods and give himself up,” Pennington said.

‘We want the citizens to call in on everything’

As long as Couch remains on the loose, law enforcement has a strong message for the local community: If you see something, say something.

“We want the citizens to call in on everything,” Pennington said Monday afternoon. “If you come home and your doors don’t seem like that’s how you left it, back out and call somebody.”

“If you hear your dogs barking late at night, call,” he added.

He recommended residents keep their cell phones charged and nearby and monitor any technology, like Ring cameras or deer cameras, that might capture something amiss. And he urged that they check on their neighbors, including those who might live in remote shacks or homemade dwellings.

Pennington warned that if people do see Couch, who may still be armed, they should stay away.

“Not only could you get harmed, you could get killed,” he said. “And we don’t want that to happen.”

The shooting and ensuing manhunt have left the central Kentucky community on edge. Safety concerns also led more than a dozen area school districts and several private schools to cancel classes Monday, including those in Laurel, Jackson and Clay counties.

There could be more school closures if Couch remains on the loose, London’s mayor told CNN Monday, but “that will ultimately be up to the school systems.”

“Everybody is scared,” Weddle said. “This is a very dangerous situation.”

Though none of the victims of Saturday’s shooting were killed, some were left with “very severe” injuries, including a person who was shot in the face and another “across the chest,” according to Acciardo. Others were “critically hurt” but were in stable condition Sunday, he said.

While the suspect did not appear to be targeting specific people, the attack did appear to be “a planned event,” Acciardo said Sunday.

Couch served in the Army Reserve for roughly six years between 2013 and 2019 as a combat engineer. He had no deployments and was a private – the Army’s lowest enlisted rank – at the end his of service, Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro told CNN in a statement.

Couch has a “very minimal” criminal record in the state, according to Steele. He was charged with terroristic threatening, but the charge was dismissed earlier this year, Steele said. No other details on the charge were given.

The suspect had no “red flags” and all his purchases were legal, Weddle told CNN.

Authorities searched the suspect’s house Sunday evening and are hoping to gain insight from electronic devices found inside, Dalrymple said.

Search crews scour a jungle-like forest

Search teams face a daunting undertaking as they trudge through the vast, secluded forest – a task the state police spokesperson compared to trekking through a jungle.

“You can’t do it very fast because you don’t want to leave (any) rock unturned. You don’t know if he’s in that area. So you’ve gotta be very slow-paced at what you do,” Pennington said.

More than 150 federal, state and local personnel are involved in the investigation and search for Couch, Root estimated, though only about 40 to 50 of those are on the ground. Pennington added Monday afternoon that teams of workers are taking turns to rest after grueling hours of searching.

The search is focused on the area near where authorities recovered Couch’s weapon and vehicle. After the shooting Saturday, investigators found a vehicle registered to Couch along a forest service road off Exit 49, with an empty gun case inside. The vehicle was “very near the interstate, but not close enough that the person of interest could have fired from that location,” Acciardo said.

The suspect is believed to have walked to a cliff along the side of the interstate and fired from a ledge about 30 feet down the cliff, according to Dalrymple. Authorities later recovered the AR-15 near the site, along with a phone with the battery removed.

The forest is full of dangers that complicate the search, including cliffs, culverts, sinkholes, and possibly dangerous animals like snakes.

“Our job is to make sure every one of our people that’s in a uniform goes home to their family, and that’s our first priority,” said Pennington.

And searching accurately and safely requires constant communication between teams, according to Pennington. “You’re not just looking for him, you’re looking for evidence,” he said.

The length of time Couch is able to survive in the wilderness depends on how prepared he was, which is still unclear to authorities.

“At this point, we do not believe he has outside assistance,” Acciardo said, though he later noted it’s “extremely possible” the suspect is using some form of telecommunications.

Law enforcement plan to keep up the search until Couch has been found: “We’re going to go every day and try to find him,” said Pennington.

He said that while “we hope that we’ve got him contained,” Couch may be outside the search area. He added that he’s been entered into the National Crime Information Center, a digital database that lets law enforcement exchange information.

It is also possible Couch has killed himself somewhere in the wilderness, Laurel County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Richard Dalrymple said Sunday.

‘I looked down and was just pouring blood,’ victim says

What started as a family day out ended with a trip to the emergency room for one of the shooting’s victims, 28-year-old Rebecca Puryear.

Puryear, her husband and 4-year-old son had spent the day together in Lexington and were on the way back to their home in Harlan, Kentucky, when they heard gunshots as they approached Exit 49 on I-75.

“It sounded like a tire had blown, so I asked my husband, and he said it was gunshots,” Puryear told CNN on Sunday.

“The next thing I know, my ears are ringing. I look over and my (passenger-side) window is busted and there’s a bullet hole.”

Puryear continued driving for another mile and a half before pulling over in a safer area. She made sure her husband and son were safe before realizing she had been shot.

“I looked down and was just pouring blood,” Puryear said. “I had to try to keep it together because if I freaked out, they would’ve freaked out.”

They called 911, Puryear said, and Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Bobby Roberts responded as another ambulance was headed to assist other victims behind her at the scene.

“I started fainting and going in and out, and he told me to get in his cruiser so he could take me to the hospital.”

Puryear said a bullet entered through the passenger-side window and struck her right arm, penetrating her chest before exiting through her left arm. She was released from a hospital later Saturday night but will need surgery.

“We’re blessed that I’m still alive. I’m a walking miracle,” Puryear told CNN. “It still does not feel real to me, even though I’m sitting here with gaping wounds.”

CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Paradise Afshar, Raja Razek, Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Jillian Sykes, Haley Britzky, Zoe Sottile, and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.

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