Police search for gunman after seven hurt in Kentucky highway shooting

Story By: Aljazeera

Police in the southern United States state of Kentucky are searching for the shooter after as many as seven people were injured on a rural stretch of a major highway.

They had been driving along the road just before 6pm (10:00 GMT) not far from London, the town’s mayor, Randall Weddle, said on Facebook.

Kentucky State Police spokesman Scottie Pennington said earlier that between four and six people had been hurt.

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Local news station WYMT said there were “multiple severe injuries” but no confirmed deaths.

The shooting led to the temporary closure of Interstate 75, a major north-south highway that cuts across the eastern half of the US, in both directions.

Authorities said they were searching for 32-year-old Joseph Couch in rugged terrain near the highway. Local media said the shots had been fired from a wooded area or an overpass.

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“Consider armed and dangerous,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post about Couch. “Do not attempt to approach.”

The incident comes days after two students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting in Georgia.

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder over that attack while his father, who had allegedly bought the gun for him as a gift, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder.

Gun violence is common in the US, a country where there are more firearms than people.

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