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    • Suspect in Kentucky I-75 shooting, Joseph Couch, still at large
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    Suspect in Kentucky I-75 shooting, Joseph Couch, still at large

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    The search for a man accused of wounding five people when he opened fire on a Kentucky highway has been underway for five days, with authorities scouring a wooded area that resembles a “jungle.”

    The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Joseph Couch, fired shots at vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 from a cliff near Exit 49 Saturday night, authorities said. Sheriff’s deputies responded to calls around 5:30 a.m. and found vehicles parked and riddled with bullets. Officials said at least a dozen vehicles were hit. Some of the five people injured were in serious condition, but all were expected to survive.

    Couch planned to “kill a lot of people” and then himself, he said in a text message, according to an arrest affidavit. He had purchased a gun and ammunition hours before. He faces five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault, and will likely face more charges.

    Schools in the area remained closed for another day Wednesday, and the London and Laurel County communities remained on edge as the search continued. Authorities say the Daniel Boone National Forest, near where the shooting occurred, presents unique challenges to search teams because of its landscape and vastness.

    MAP AND TIMELINE: After an active shooter opens fire on a Kentucky highway, a massive manhunt continues

    Why is the search taking so long? Daniel Boone National Forest is ‘like a jungle’

    Authorities have spent days scouring the rolling woods near Laurel County for Couch and other evidence related to the shooting. The area’s notoriously rugged terrain has made it harder to find him, law enforcement officials said.

    “We’re in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and this is thousands and thousands of acres,” Scottie Pennington, public affairs officer for the Kentucky State Police, said in a news conference Monday. “It’s like a jungle.”

    Police have deployed helicopters, drones and dogs to search the area where Couch disappeared into the woods after officers found his car and gun near the scene of the shooting. Cold nights and damp days, coupled with a lack of food and water, will hopefully coax him out of the woods and turn himself over to police, Pennington said.

    Pennington said cliffs, sinkholes, caves, culverts, creeks, rivers and dense brush are complicating the hunt for the Laurel County shooting suspect, as are wildlife, including venomous snakes.

    “The Daniel Boone National Forest encompasses some of the most rugged terrain west of the Appalachians,” according to the U.S. Forest Service, and features “steep forested slopes, sandstone cliffs, and narrow canyons.”

    Daniel Boone National Forest spans more than 700,000 acres and 21 counties in Kentucky. Taking a wrong step along forested ridges or encountering dangerous wildlife poses risks in the region, especially off the trails where law enforcement now searches.

    Daniel Boone National Forest has proven challenging for search crews in the past, even in cases where the missing person wanted to be found. In July, search crews found Scott Hern, 48, alive after he had been missing in the forest for two weeks and had spent an estimated 12 days without access to food or water, search and rescue officials said.

    ‘Please, please, please’: 911 calls reveal panic and chaos on I-75

    According to phone calls obtained by the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, victims of the shooting on I-75 reported to 911 dispatchers that they had suffered serious injuries and damage to their vehicles.

    A man told dispatchers that he rushed to help a woman who had been shot in the hip.

    “She’s gushing with blood, it’s horrible,” he said.

    Another victim can be heard groaning in pain from a gunshot wound to her leg.

    “Please, please, please,” she told a 911 dispatcher.

    “There’s an ambulance on the way,” said the London-Laurel County 911 Communications Center dispatcher. “They’re coming.”

    Contributors: John Bacon, Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; The Louisville Courier Journal

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