Schools reopen with bolstered security in Kentucky county near the site of weekend I-75 shooting

Carol Hasty’s grandchildren are back in school a few days after a gunman opened fire on a nearby highway in Kentucky

Kentucky Interstate Shooting (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Carol Hasty's grandchildren are back in school a few days after a gunman opened fire on a nearby highway in Kentucky but she's not happy about it — even with the increased police protection.

Hasty said schools in Rockcastle County should have stayed closed, with students shifting to virtual learning from home, until the assailant who sprayed bullets onto Interstate 75 is caught. Rockcastle County is just north of where 12 vehicles were hit and five people wounded in the Saturday attack.

The search continued Thursday in a rugged, wooded area where Joseph Couch, the suspected gunman, is presumed to be hiding. The attack was in Laurel County in southeastern Kentucky but the closest town is Livingston in Rockcastle County. Livingston is 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of Lexington, Kentucky.

Rockcastle County schools reopened Wednesday and Hasty's grandchildren — a seventh-grade girl and a fifth-grade boy — are riding the bus to school. Their bus gets a police escort, Hasty said, but that hasn't eased her safety concerns when the gunman is still at large.

“If he wanted to shoot a bus, it don’t matter if there are 10 police cars," Hasty said by phone Thursday.

Schools remained closed in several other districts in the area, with virtual instruction underway in some, as residents remain on edge as the intense police search continues.

In Rockcastle County, school officials worked with law enforcement to enhance security when schools reopened, the district said in a social media post. More police are assigned to school campuses, all students and staff stay inside during the school day and classroom doors are locked. Some bus routes were suspended and police escorts were provided for buses in areas closest to the shooting site. School administrators there didn't return a call Thursday seeking comment.

“The district has worked diligently to ensure a safe return for students and staff, with enhanced safety protocols to prioritize the well-being of the entire school community,” the district said on social media.

Sherry Barron said school officials had a tough decision to make, but she would have preferred virtual learning at least through this week to give searchers more time to find the suspect. Her seventh-grade son wasn't worried about going back to school, she said, and she trusts the safety plan.

“The kids are safe," she said by phone. "So I felt very comfortable with sending him to school.”

During a Thursday stop in Laurel County to meet with law enforcement officials, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Rockcastle County officials had devised a good safety plan. And authorities have “double-downed” on efforts to keep area residents safe as the search continues, he said.

“We will not pull resources away from the search for those other activities," the governor said. "We just want to make sure that people are ready to try to get back to their day-to-day lives, that there’s that extra (law enforcement) presence where people can feel just a little bit better.”

Kentucky State Police troopers have been brought in from across the state to aid in the search focused on a remote area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) north of London, the county seat for Laurel County where law enforcement has been stationed.

The search continues from the ground and air in a coordinated effort among local, state and federal agencies, state police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said Thursday.

“It’s very treacherous terrain and it takes time, but we’re going to clear that area," Burnett said. "And then, after we clear this area, then we may have to expand and tailor our activities going forward.”

Four of the people wounded have been released from the hospital and the other victim is expected to survive, Beshear said.

“Being somebody that's had friends in these mass shootings that did not go as well, this is a blessing even in a really terrible situation,” the governor told reporters later at the Kentucky statehouse.

One of Beshear's closest friends died in a 2023 mass shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky.

Shortly before the weekend shooting in southeastern Kentucky, Couch, 32, wrote in a text message: “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least.” In a separate text message, Couch wrote, “I’ll kill myself afterwards.” The messages were revealed in an arrest warrant affidavit.

The affidavit did not describe the relationship between Couch and the woman who received the texts. Couch and the woman have a child together but were never married, according to an attorney who handled the custody arrangement for the couple and their son born in 2016.

Beshear said the threat of gun violence is “an evil that is currently in our society” and should spur “a real conversation about doing something.” He touted a measure known as a “red flag law” that allows courts to issue temporary orders barring someone from possessing guns based on some showing of imminent danger. Kentucky has no such law and few regulations on purchasing guns and carrying them in public.

“A ‘red flag law’ might not have stopped all of these, but it could stop some of them,” Beshear said.