Kentucky highway shooting suspect found dead, officials believe

The suspect in the Kentucky highway shooting earlier this month is believed to have been found dead, authorities announced Wednesday. 

A body believed to be 32-year-old Joseph Couch was found in the area off exit 49 of Interstate 75 in Laurel County, the same exit near which the shooting occurred, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip “PJ” Burnett, Jr. said in a news conference. 

Couch had been the subject of a manhunt in the southeastern part of the state since five people were shot on Interstate 75 on the evening of Sept. 7.

All five victims were expected to survive the shooting, which happened near London, a city with a population of about 8,000 outside Daniel Boone National Forest.

State police had warned people that the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous as authorities spent days searching for him in the dense forest.

Officials had urged residents to check in on their neighbors, hold off on outdoor activities and scroll through footage from their security cameras before returning home after going out. Schools were closed throughout the area in the days immediately after the shooting.

Investigators recovered from an area near the shooting an AR-15 rifle and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition that the suspect bought legally on the day of the shooting, authorities said.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by CBS News last week, the suspect had sent a text message less than 30 minutes before the shooting in which he wrote that he planned to “kill a lot of people.” The woman who received that text called 911 prior to the shooting and alerted emergency dispatchers, the affidavit read. 

The Lexington Herald-Leader identified the woman as the suspect’s ex-wife.

The suspect had served in the Army Reserve for nearly six years as a combat engineer without any deployments, according to an Army spokesperson.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

contributed to this report.