Kentucky highway shooting suspect vowed to "kill a lot of people," warrant says (2024)

The man suspected of opening fire on a highway in Kentucky sent a text message vowing to "kill a lot of people" less than 30 minutes before he shot and wounded five people on Interstate 75, authorities said in an arrest warrant.

"I'm going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least," Joseph Couch, 32, wrote in the text message, according to the warrant affidavit filed in court. In a separate text message, Couch wrote, "I'll kill myself afterwards," the affidavit says.

The Lexington Herald-Leader identified the woman Couch sent the text messages to as his ex-wife. The affidavit itself doesn't describe the relationship between Couch and the woman who received the texts.

The affidavit, written by Capt. Richard Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, said that before authorities received the first report of the shooting at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a dispatcher in Laurel County got a call from a woman who told them Couch had sent her the text messages at 5:03 p.m.

In response to that call, police initiated a tracker on Couch's cellphone but the location wasn't received until 6:53 p.m., the affidavit states, almost 90 minutes after the highway shooting.

The affidavit, obtained by CBS News, charges Couch with five counts each of criminal attempt to commit murder and first-degree assault.

On Sunday, law enforcement officers searched an area near where Couch's vehicle was found, with a view of I-75. There they found a green Army-style duffel bag, ammunition and numerous spent shell casings, the affidavit says. A short distance away, they found a Colt AR-15 rifle with a sight mounted to the weapon and several additional magazines. The duffel bag had "Couch" handwritten in black marker.

Searchers have been combing thousands of acres in the rugged, hilly area near London, a small city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles south of Lexington.

State police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington, a spokesman for the London post, said thousands of tips have poured in from across Kentucky as well as from other states. Pennington urged people to continue calling authorities if they see something that's not quite right.

"If a complaint comes in, we're going to investigate it," he told reporters Tuesday. "We want those complaints to come in because we never know the smallest little tip, what it's going to lead to."

Pennington said there's no indication that the suspect has left the search area in and around Daniel Boone National Forest. Authorities have been using helicopters with heat sensors and more drones to search the forest from above, along with search teams on the ground.

"We're going to take all the help we can get, and we're going to continue to try to locate Mr. Couch until something tells us we need to go in a different direction," Pennington said.

Troopers were being brought in from across the state to aid in the search focused on the remote area about 8 miles north of London, Pennington said Monday. He described the extensive search area as "walking in a jungle," with machetes needed to cut through thickets.

"We have cliff beds. We have sinkholes. We have caves," Pennington said Monday. "We have culverts that go under the interstate. We have creeks and rivers and the dense brush."

Pennington posted a video of the search area to social media Tuesday.

Authorities vowed to keep up their relentless pursuit in the densely wooded area as local residents worried about where the shooter might turn up next.

"We're not going to quit until we do lay hands on him," Laurel County Sheriff John Root said.

A $25,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Couch's arrest, with the Kentucky State Police announcing Tuesday a Crime Stoppers reward increased to $15,000 with another $10,000 coming from an anonymous donor.

Victim tells her story

Rebecca Puryear told the Lexington Herald-Leader she's thankful to be alive after she was shot across her chest in her right arm. She was with her husband and 4-year-old son coming home after a meal at Olive Garden.

Another bullet burst into fragments upon hitting the door of her Toyota Camry, injuring her left arm, as well.

"I looked at my husband and said, 'What was that?' He said it was gunshots. I said, 'Oh my God!'" Puryear, 28, told the newspaper.

She was "gushing blood," but her husband urged her to keep driving. She pulled over a mile up the road and her husband told her to take off her shirt and press it to the wound while he called 911.

Puryear is out of the hospital but will have to have surgery at a later date.

"This man was out to kill, and he almost did," Puryear said, adding: "In a blink of an eye you could not be here. I don't want nobody else's family to go through this."

Extra precautions as search continues

Meanwhile, area school districts were shut down for a second consecutive day Tuesday across a wide swath of southeastern Kentucky as the search for Couch stretched into a fourth day. Schools were closed in Jackson County and Laurel County while classes were expected to be held virtually for Clay County schools.

Donna Hess, who lives 10 miles from the shooting scene, agreed with the decision to close schools.

"I'd be afraid he'd try to hijack the bus and take the kids as hostages," said Hess, who has a first grader and a preschooler. "I'm worried about everybody because they don't know where he's at. ... We don't know what he's capable of right now."

Couch most recently lived in Woodbine, a small community about 20 miles south of the shooting scene. An employee of a gun store in London, Center Target Firearms, informed authorities that Couch purchased an AR-15 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition hours before the shooting, the affidavit said.

Joe Arnold, the gun store's manager, declined to comment Monday. He said he didn't want to interfere with the investigation.

"We'd love for him to be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Arnold told The Associated Press.

Kentucky's gun laws in focus

Kentucky has few regulations on purchasing guns and carrying them in public. The state's gun laws "are among the worst in the country," according to a report by Everytown For Gun Safety, a gun safety nonprofit group.

Kentucky legislators repealed a law in 2019 that required a permit for carrying a concealed weapon. The state also doesn't require a background check at the point of purchase.

Authorities in Kentucky said Monday that Couch was in the Army Reserve and not the National Guard, as officials initially indicated. The U.S. Army said in a statement that Couch served from 2013 to 2019 as a combat engineer. He was a private when he left and had no deployments.

Pennington said Monday that military experience doesn't make Couch a trained survivalist, and the plan is to wear Couch down.

"How long can you really survive?" Pennington said. "We hope he just walks out."

Authorities said Couch fired 20 to 30 rounds, striking 12 vehicles on the interstate Saturday.

Christina DiNoto, who witnessed the shooting while driving, said Monday the search weighs heavily on her mind.

"To know that he's still at large — that makes me nervous, honestly," DiNoto said.

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