Kentucky I-75 shooting suspect vowed over text to ‘kill a lot of people,’ arrest warrant says

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Zoe Sottile and Gloria Pazmino, CNN

(CNN) — The man suspected of shooting five people traveling on a Kentucky interstate texted a woman ahead of the attack, warning of his plan to “kill a lot of people,” according to a warrant for his arrest.

“I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least,” Joseph Couch wrote in his text, the arrest warrant says. In another message, sent less than half an hour before the shooting, he allegedly wrote, “I’ll kill myself afterwards…”

The woman called 911 after receiving the alarming texts, according to the warrant. She later showed police screenshots of the text during an interview early Sunday.

Authorities are continuing to search for Couch, 32, who has evaded capture since Saturday afternoon, when authorities say he fired an AR-15 from a cliff ledge on the side of the interstate about nine miles north of London, Kentucky, striking 12 cars and wounding five people.

The day of the shooting, Couch purchased an AR-15 with a sight and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, paying almost $3,000 in total, the arrest warrant says. The sheriff’s office has said he made the purchases legally.

An arrest warrant has been issued charging Couch with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault, Jackie Steele, the commonwealth attorney for Laurel and Knox Counties, told CNN.

Police say they’re hoping constant pressure and an intense search effort involving drones, helicopters, dogs and dozens of officers will lead to the suspect’s capture. Crews from federal, state and local agencies are scouring the vast, densely wooded area near where responders found Couch’s AR-15, ammunition, car and a phone thought to be his.

“Our goal is to apply steady pressure and wear Mr. Couch down the longer he is in the woods,” Kentucky State Police spokesperson Scottie Pennington said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “Hopefully he has no water and nothing to eat.”

The remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest encompasses thousands of acres and includes sinkholes, caves, culverts, creeks and rivers. In some places, officers are using machetes to slice through thick brush, Pennington said earlier.

Though the motive is still unknown, the attack appeared to be a “random act” of violence, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said, according to The Associated Press.

A $15,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to Couch’s arrest, according to Kentucky State Police.

“This message is to him: You can run, but you can’t hide,” Randall Weddle, the mayor of London, Kentucky, said on CNN Monday afternoon.

‘We want the citizens to call in on everything’

As long as Couch remains on the loose, law enforcement has a strong message for the local community: If you see something, say something.

“We want the citizens to call in on everything,” Pennington said Monday afternoon. “If you come home and your doors don’t seem like that’s how you left it, back out and call somebody.”

“If you hear your dogs barking late at night, call,” he added.

He recommended residents keep their cell phones charged and nearby and monitor any technology, like Ring cameras or deer cameras, that might capture something amiss. And he urged that they check on their neighbors, including those who might live in remote shacks or homemade dwellings.

Pennington warned that if people do see Couch, who may still be armed, they should stay away.

The shooting and ensuing manhunt have left the central Kentucky community on edge. More than a dozen area school districts and several private schools canceled classes Monday, including those in Laurel, Jackson and Clay counties. Laurel County has announced classes will also be canceled Tuesday.

“Everybody is scared,” Weddle said. “This is a very dangerous situation.”

Though none of the victims of Saturday’s shooting were killed, some were left with “very severe” injuries, including a person who was shot in the face and another “across the chest,” according to Acciardo. Others were “critically hurt” but were in stable condition Sunday, he said.

The victims are Rebecca Puryear, Norma Liberia, Renee Walker, Janet Booth and Erick Gavin, according to the arrest warrant. All five were traveling south on I-75.

Puryear, 28, described herself as “a walking miracle” to CNN after surviving the shooting. She was driving home with her husband and their 4-year-old son when they heard gunshots on I-75.

When she pulled over, she “looked down and was just pouring blood,” Puryear said.

Puryear said a bullet entered the passenger-side window and struck her right arm, penetrating her chest before exiting through her left arm. She was released from a hospital later Saturday night but will need surgery.

While the suspect did not appear to be targeting specific people, the attack did appear to be “a planned event,” Acciardo said Sunday. The FBI’s famed profilers, working with local law enforcement, have developed a “general concept” about the suspect’s motive in the Kentucky I-75 shooting based on “material” that’s been recovered, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Couch served in the Army Reserve for roughly six years between 2013 and 2019 as a combat engineer. He had no deployments and was a private – the Army’s lowest enlisted rank – at the end his of service, Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro told CNN in a statement.

Couch has a “very minimal” criminal record in the state, according to Steele. He was charged with terroristic threatening, but the charge was dismissed earlier this year, Steele said. No other details on the charge were given.

The suspect had no “red flags” and all his purchases were legal, Weddle told CNN.

Authorities searched the suspect’s house Sunday evening and are hoping to gain insight from electronic devices found inside, Laurel County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Richard Dalrymple said.

Search crews scour a jungle-like forest

Search teams face a daunting undertaking as they trudge through the vast, secluded forest – a task the state police spokesperson compared to trekking through a jungle.

“You can’t do it very fast because you don’t want to leave (any) rock unturned. You don’t know if he’s in that area. So you’ve gotta be very slow-paced at what you do,” Pennington said.

More than 150 federal, state and local personnel are involved in the investigation and search for Couch, Root estimated, though only about 40 to 50 of those are on the ground. Pennington added Monday afternoon that teams of workers are taking turns to rest after grueling hours of searching.

After receiving a phone call about Couch’s threatening text messages, police began tracking his cell phone, according to the arrest warrant. The phone pinged within 2500 meters of the cellular tower on Exit 49 on Cromer Ridge at 6:53 p.m – over an hour after the shooting was first reported.

The search is focused on the area near where authorities recovered Couch’s weapon and vehicle. After the shooting Saturday, investigators found a vehicle registered to Couch along a forest service road off Exit 49, with an empty gun case inside.

The suspect is believed to have walked to a cliff along the side of the interstate and fired from a ledge about 30 feet down the cliff, according to Dalrymple. Authorities later found a “green army style duffle bag,” several magazines of ammunition and “numerous spent shell casings” near the vehicle’s location, the arrest warrant says. They also found an AR-15 and sight nearby, and a phone with the battery removed.

The forest is full of dangers that complicate the search, including cliffs, culverts, sinkholes and possibly dangerous animals like snakes.

The length of time Couch is able to survive in the wilderness depends on how prepared he was, which is still unclear to authorities.

“At this point, we do not believe he has outside assistance,” Acciardo said, though he later noted it’s “extremely possible” the suspect is using some form of telecommunications.

Law enforcement plan to keep up the search until Couch has been found: “We’re going to go every day and try to find him,” said Pennington.

He said that while “we hope that we’ve got him contained,” Couch may be outside the search area. He added that he’s been entered into the National Crime Information Center, a digital database that lets law enforcement exchange information.

It is also possible Couch has killed himself somewhere in the wilderness, Dalrymple said Sunday.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Paradise Afshar, Raja Razek, Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Jillian Sykes, Haley Britzky, Sarah Dewberry, and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.

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