A grueling manhunt stretches into a third day Monday for a suspect in an interstate shooting that struck 12 vehicles and wounded five people in Kentucky
As a grueling manhunt stretched into a third day Monday for a suspect in an interstate shooting that struck 12 vehicles and wounded five people, authorities vowed to keep up a relentless search as the stress level remained high for a rural area where some schools canceled classes.
Authorities have been searching a rugged, hilly area of southeastern Kentucky since Saturday evening, when a gunman began shooting at drivers on Interstate 75 near London, a small city of about 8,000 people located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Lexington.
The search was temporarily suspended once darkness fell Sunday night, but was set to resume Monday morning.
“We’re not going to quit until we do lay hands on him,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Sunday night.
Joseph A. Couch, 32, was named first as a person of interest and later as a suspect in the shooting after authorities said they recovered his SUV on a service road near the crime scene. They later found a semi-automatic weapon nearby that they believe was used in the shooting, said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, a spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office.
On Sunday, as another day of searching was ending without any sign of the suspect, Acciardo acknowledged the frustration that law enforcement officers and people who live near the search area are feeling.
“As this continues, it becomes more stressful for the community, it becomes more stressful for the officers that are there because we’re looking . and we’re trying to find him, and we haven’t found him», he said.
