Suspect in Ky. shooting spree is ex-National Guardsman who bought AR-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammo hours before attacks

The suspect still being hunted Monday for shooting motorists on a rural Kentucky highway was a National Guardsman who bought an AR-style rifle and about 1,000 rounds of ammo just hours before the first attack, according to authorities.

Joseph Couch, 32, legally bought a rifle and ammo Saturday morning, soon before 12 vehicles were shot at on Interstate 75, hitting five people and causing a crash that injured two others, the Courier Journal reported.

“He obtained a firearm at a local place here in London,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said of the small city where several school districts have been closed while the manhunt continues for a third day.

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“We’re not going to quit until we do lay hands on him,” Root said late Sunday.

As well as using drones and helicopters to search the rugged, hilly surrounding area for Couch, officials raided his home late Sunday. The suspect served at least four years in a National Guard engineer battalion, officials said, without detailing when his service ended.

“We feel pretty confident this is the individual,” stressed Michael E. Stansbury, the special agent in charge of the Louisville FBI office.

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“We have solid evidence. His vehicle was at the scene. A firearm that he purchased yesterday was at the scene,” he added of the AR-style rifle believed to have been used to shoot down from a high vantage point.

The AR-15 was found in a wooded area near a highway where “he could have shot down upon the interstate,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said.

A phone believed to belong to Couch was also recovered, though its battery had been removed, police said.

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Troopers from around the state have been brought in to help with the grueling manhunt, which state police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington described as “walking in a jungle,” with machetes needed to cut through thickets of woods.

Authorities said it seemed like the gunman planned the shooting with that location in mind because it is remote and hard to navigate.

Authorities are urging residents in a remote area about eight miles north of London to lock their doors, keep porch lights on and monitor their security cameras.

With Post wires

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