Neighbors of the Kentucky man who allegedly shot Five motorists shot on rural Kentucky highway They say he threatened several people in the neighborhood with his gun — and even told one neighbor, “I'll kill you.”
Joseph Couch, 32, who is still at large After opening fire on Interstate 75 on Saturday, he was arrested Feb. 8 at his home in Gray, Kentucky, on charges of making terroristic threats following a confrontation with a neighbor, according to a citation Obtained by CBS News.
The neighbor went to confront Couch, who had thrown a rock at the family dog. However, Couch allegedly pointed a loaded AR-style rifle at him and his nine-year-old daughter.
“He went into his house, picked up an AR-15, pointed it at me and my daughter, said next time he was going to shoot me and my daughter,” the neighbor said. “So, naturally, I went and filed charges against him.”
The charges against Couch were dismissed after the neighbor failed to appear in court.
“They dismissed it because they never informed me there was a court date,” he told CBS, adding that he believed officers should have taken Couch's weapons.
Following the incident, three of the neighbour's dogs were found dead on his property, two of which had been poisoned.
“He has threatened more than one person in this area with a gun,” he said.
Another neighbor, Donald Causey, 61, said he and Couch had a good relationship until last week, when the suspected gunman allegedly pointed a gun at them when they walked too close to their property.
“He went inside his house, and he came out and pointed his rifle at me and said 'I'm going to kill you,'” Causey recalled.
Causey said he did not contact police because they had a good relationship in the past, but he regrets that decision after the shooting.
“We had a great relationship this spring — I loaned him my lawn mower a couple of times,” Causey said, adding that Couch had been on a tear lately, and seemed to be struggling with his mental health. “If you talked to him for 15 seconds you'd understand.”
After the encounter, Causey said he went into the house to defuse the situation, but Couch came back outside with his rifle.
“He put it on his shoulder like he was marching, and he walked around his house about 50 times,” Causey said. “…He started marching like he never talked to us or did anything.”
According to an arrest warrant, Couch allegedly sent a message to someone that his goal was to “kill a lot of people” on Saturday, then turned the gun on himself. The woman who received the messages contacted police about a half-hour before the shooting to warn them, the affidavit said.
Couch has been charged with five counts each of criminal attempt to murder and first-degree assault for the shooting, which left five people injured.
An intense, multi-agency search operation has been underway since Saturday, with searchers scouring thousands of acres of dense forest looking for Couch.
On Tuesday, the reward for information leading to Couch's arrest was increased to $35,000, and authorities said there was no indication Couch had managed to escape.
“Some people say 'What if he's not alive anymore?'” Master Trooper Scotty Pennington told reporters Tuesday. “Well, we'll be in the woods until we find him. That's our job. Whether he's dead or alive, it's our job to try to find him.”
post with wires
