Kentucky Manhunt: Police Update on Shooting Suspect Joseph A. Couch

Authorities have identified a “person of interest” in a shooting in a rural area of southeastern Kentucky near Interstate 75 on Saturday night which left at least seven people injured and caused a crash.

The London Police Department asked the public to share any information regarding the whereabouts or location of Joseph A. Couch, a 32-year-old white male from Woodbine, Kentucky, who is roughly 5 foot 10 inches tall and weighs around 154 pounds. The man is considered “armed and dangerous” and members of the public should not attempt to approach him.

According to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to a gunshot victim complaint on I-75 at exit 49 on Saturday around 5:30 p.m. The area where the incident took place is about eight miles away from London, south of Lexington

When they arrived on the scene, they found mayhem as nine vehicles traveling in both directions on the road had been shot at “and five persons were seriously injured.” The victims were brought to a hospital for treatment. While five people were shot, two others were hurt in the vehicle crash.

​​”When our first two units got to the scene there, they said it was a madhouse: people on the sides of the road, emergency flashers going, bullet holes, windows shot out, nine vehicles shot. Can you imagine that? Just chaotic,” Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, a spokesperson for the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, said during a news conference early on Sunday.

London Mayor Randall Weddle told WVLT-TV on Saturday night that investigators were able to identify Couch from the fact that his vehicle was located at the scene of the incident on I-75.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Department wrote on Facebook that Couch “is said to be heavily armed with multiple rounds of ammunition.” It also shared a mug shot from a February 8, 2024, arrest in Knox County, Kentucky.

I-75 was closed for several hours as more sheriff’s deputies and Kentucky state police secured the scene and started looking for the gunman. According to the sheriff’s office’s latest update on the shooting, released roughly two hours before this article’s publication, Couch had not been apprehended on Saturday night and an active search for the man is set to continue at daybreak on Sunday morning, together with further investigations.

Up to 13 different agencies and law enforcement and emergency departments are involved in the searches and investigations.

Weddle told residents of London to stay home and stay vigilant. “We want individuals to be vigilant if they have to be out tonight,” he said. “I’m urging individuals and folks in the community to stay home, just stay home for tonight.” He added that he is confident that Couch will be found soon.

In the Sunday news conference, Acciardo said that authorities have “an area contained” and they are trying to find the shooter there. On Saturday night, they searched a remote, wooded area in Laurel County where searches will resume at daybreak.

Acciardo specified that investigators have not yet determined that Couch is “the individual who fired the weapon.”

Newsweek contacted Deputy Acciardo for more information by email on Sunday morning outside of standard working hours.