US Army vet remains on the run days after firing an AR-15 at a crowded highway in Kentucky

Joseph A. Couch, 32, has evaded capture since Saturday afternoon when he struck 12 cars, injuring five people, after he sent text saying ‘I’m going to kill a lot of people’

He began firing at drivers on Interstate 75 near London, a small city of about 8,000 people located about 75 miles south of Lexington

Police Sunday revealed how he’d purchased the firearm and ammunition just hours before the shooting

His gun was found in a woods along with ammo, his car, and cell phone, what cops in Laurel County said

The find was the product of a 48 hour search Saturday and Sunday, through the rugged, hilly and heavily wooded terrain near Exit 49 off I-75

The search remains focused the search in the area around arching a rugged, hilly area of southeastern Kentucky, where cops suspect he’s hiding

Joseph Couch, 32, [photo], remains on the run after firing an AR-15 at a crowded highway in Kentucky Saturday

The search for Joseph A. Couch entered its third day Monday following the shooting on Interstate 75 on Saturday evening.
Law enforcement in Laurel County, Kentucky, focused the search in the area around arching a rugged, hilly area of southeastern Kentucky since Saturday evening, when a shooter began firing at drivers on Interstate 75 near London, a small city of about 8,000 people located about 75 miles south of Lexington.
The US Army vet remains on the run days after firing an AR-15 at a crowded highway in Kentucky – and authorities have now revealed how he purchased the firearm just hours before the shooting.
Couch, 32, has evaded capture since Saturday afternoon, despite over 48 hours of searching through the rugged, hilly and heavily wooded terrain near Exit 49 off I-75, as cops believe he might be hiding out in the thick woods adjacent the crime scene.
So far the search party found his AR-15 rifle in a woods along with ammunition, a cell phone and his Toyota sedan.
The evening before, Crouch fired the same weapon from a cliff ledge on the side of the interstate about nine miles north of London.
He struck 12 cars and five people, leaving them wounded. No one was killed, and the search for Couch continued early Monday morning.

Army vet Joseph Couch on Saturday created traffic chaos near Exit 49 on I-75, after unleashing a hail of gunfire on the freeway, striking 12 vehicles, hitting five people – none fatal. Cops Sunday revealed he purchased the firearm and ammo hours before the shooting

‘We have numerous individuals that are still searching in the wooded area up there,’ Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said at the crime scene Sunday.
‘The ATF, FBI and Marshal Service, their ERTS (Emergency Response Teams) are there to help us process what we’ve got so far,’ he said.
‘Last night, we recovered the suspect’s vehicle in that area – that’s why he is a person of interest. The vehicle came back registered to him.
‘That recovery was made late last night and that’s why we had the information that we had today,’ he continued, before revealing what officials had just found seconds before.
just in the last few minutes. We located an AR-15,’ he said.

Alleged shooter Joseph Couch, [image from his Facebook profile], a US Army veteran who lives in the Corbin, Kentucky, remains at large, likely in the heavily wooded area adjacent to the highway crime scene 

‘It’s, gonna be processed, and it is in a wooded area next to the interstate.’
He added how the weapon was found ‘in a location [where Couch] could have shot down upon the interstate,’ before fielding a question about where cops had found the car the night before.
‘It’s on a forest service road at the top of the hill off of Exit 49, down another little trail off of that forest service road,’ he said.

Law enforcement searching near the crime scene, recovered what they confirmed to be Couch’s Toyota, after describing his shooting as ‘sniper-like’, rather than the result of road rage

Cops combing the adjacent woods recovered the suspect’s vehicle in that area, as well as his AR -15 assault rife, which put him on the radar of investigators

‘Very near the interstate but not close enough that [Couch] could have fired from that location. 
‘He had to walk on over toward the interstate, which is where we recovered the weapon at.’
Following the discovery, cops upgraded Couch from a person of interest to a suspect – a development that, when asked about, Laurel County sheriff John Root said also stemmed from ‘some information’ he could not share.
Root added how he and investigators believed Couch was still in the area, hiding out in woods State police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington said were like ‘walking in a jungle,’ with machetes needed to traverse thickets of woods.
Acciardo added that it appeared the attacker planned the shooting from that location specifically, due to how remote it is and the terrain is hilly.
Also rocky and hard to navigate, the area was only found by Laurel County Sheriff’s Captain Richard Dalrymple when he held onto a tree and looked down on the site – a ledge located about 30 feet down from a cliff overlooking Exit 49.
Dalrymple, during a briefing later that night, that Couch bought about a thousand rounds of ammunition and the weapon used in the incident, legally, on Saturday morning, just hours before the shooting.

Couch firing a AR-15 at a crowded highway in Kentucky Saturday, hit 12 vehicles. [photo] shows the shattered window from the hail of gunfire. The fugitive could still be armed, police said on Sunday

Following that revelation, the massive, 150-man search for Couch was called off for the night. It had since commenced Monday, beginning at 8am.
Earlier Sunday, Acciardo described Couch’s shooting as ‘sniper-like’, asserting that it was not the result of road rage and premeditated.
He added that investigators did not believe at the time that the alleged shooter, a US Army vet who resides in Woodbine, knew any of the victims or had prior contact with them.
Despite finding the weapon he used in the incident, cops on Sunday said the suspect could still be armed and dangerous, with those who see him warned to not approach and instead contact authorities.

Laurel County sheriff John Root [right], and Sheriff’s Captain Richard Dalrymple [left], said Couch was upgraded to a suspect Sunday after cops got more ‘information’ – he legally bought about a thousand rounds of ammo and the weapon hours prior to the shooting.

Investigators also aired the possibility that Couch could have committed suicide somewhere in the woods, though that remains to be seen.
Police said the victims he shot suffered injuries to the face, chest, and arms, but were all in stable condition at a hospital Sunday night.
All public schools in Laurel County canceled on Monday, as the now three-day search has left locals in the area on edge
The shooter’s motive remains unknown.