Arrest warrant charges fugitive suspect who opened fire near Kentucky highway with attempted murder

The search for the suspect who launched a mass shooting on a Kentucky highway over the weekend, continues Monday as he’s been charged with attempted murder and assault in an arrest warrant.

The search for Joseph A. Couch, 32, who authorities described as “armed and dangerous,” continued Monday in connection with the shooting on Interstate 75, eight miles north of the small city of London, on Saturday evening. Five people were shot and left seriously injured.

The warrant charges Couch with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault.

Once he’s taken into custody, “the court processes will begin quickly with the District Court,” Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit, Jackie Steele, said in a statement to NBC News. He could face other, less serious charges, in connection with the other drivers impacted in the shooting such as property damage and wanton endangerment. 

The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office has said that the gunman in the shooting opened fire from three different perches along a ridge that looks down on the interstate. An AR-15, believed to have been used in the shooting, was found near Couch’s vehicle that was found near the scene Saturday night.Deputies were searching for Couch in the remote woods near the scene of the shooting Sunday. 

In the shooting, at least 12 vehicles were struck, though some didn’t realize their cars were hit until they arrived at their destinations hours away. As many as 20 to 30 rounds may have been fired, Sheriff’s Capt. Richard Dalrymple said.

All the shot victims are stable and expected to survive, officials said Sunday.

Officials said Sunday that the suspect had purchased the AR-15 and about 1,000 rounds legally at a local gun store Saturday morning. Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Sunday that the suspect went through all the proper paperwork, and had nothing on record that would have prevented the sale. 

A gun case and several charged magazines were also found in the suspect’s SUV.

An investigation into the shooting, and potential motive, now turned over to Kentucky State Police, remain ongoing.

Couch had served in the National Guard for at least four years, and was a member of an engineer battalion. He is not a felon and has a relatively clean record that includes the March dismissal of a charge of making a terrorist threat and at least one alleged traffic violation, Steele, the prosecutor for the region, said. He’s believed to have acted alone in the shooting.

Laurel County Public Schools said school is canceled Monday “out of an abundance of caution.”