Kentucky authorities provide update as search continues for highway shooter

hey I'm Master Trooper uh Scotty Pennington with the Kentucky State Police London post uh most of y'all got that yesterday I want to clear something up um just in the last couple hours uh in Wayne County in our post area we did have a um shooting that occurred uh we have detained one person we do have one deceased this has nothing to do with what occurred in Laurel County um I want to continue to say that I told yesterday there's complaints that happen all around us in all our communities all the counties that we work uh the little municipalities and we're going to continue to investigate these complaints and if it's another post area we'll help another post if another post has to come and help us or a sheriff's department or a small agency we're going to continue to work together to not not just soloft crimes here in Lael County but other jurisdictions as well we'll get started uh the Kentucky State Police continues to assist the Laur County Sheriff's Office with the Manhunt of Joseph a couch we are going on 72 hours of this Manhunt we remain committed to resolving this situation as Swift and safely as possible we extend our sincerely gratitude to all the Community Partners First Responders local state and federal law enforcement agencies such as fish and wildlife Federal forcy service ATF FBI US Marshal Service elected officials and also churches and local organizations that that has helped us um to feed us to make sure we got plenty stuff to drink and um and all the other agencies that that are helping us that sometime don't get named like the sheriff's departments and the city police from outside of our jurisdiction here um but I want to give a big thanks to uh the London city police the London city police has went way above Beyond this did not happen or occur in the city limits of London but this is their Community this is their people and um I want to thank them and their officers they went way and above and beyond to help us answer calls out in the county and they've done a great and remarkable job in helping in this situation and their public affairs officer um me and him and Deputy orchardo we worked well together um passing on information I want to thank them uh I'm sure I'm not I'm sure I'm leaving people out but I want to thank everybody I'm proud I'm proud to be a kuckian I'm proud to be the public affairs officer from the London State Police post and I hope that I'm making people feel at ease and and and it's hard it's hard when people are so at fear right now that there's probably somebody out there and but I know my fellow officers and Troopers and all the other people they're working their guts out to try to find this Mr couch and bring us to an end and but I just want to give another thanks I want to thank um you know we've had outside agencies give us access to uh more aircraft so we've got you know several more helicopters in the air um and Technology we got uh the ATF and the FBI and the the Marshall services and we've got other entities from way off from us that are contact with us um to bring their equipment here to try and help locate Mr couch um so I want to thank them I want to thank the people the people for being patient I know you see all this stuff on Facebook good or bad but people are really behind us and supporting us they're really supporting their neighbor uh they're really looking out for each other and we we want to thank them for doing that and we encourage them to continue to uh to check on their neighbor to check on the elderly person that that don't have somebody regularly coming to their house make sure you hear from them daily uh make sure you're being vigilant when you go home that you're checking maybe your your camera your ring camera uh you're checking your your security system before you go to the house make sure somebody somebody didn't cross through your yard uh that shouldn't be uh make sure your lights are on make sure your cell phones are charged make sure you if you pick up the phone you can contact and communicate with somebody um we would like you if you're in that area to maybe suspend your activities and we talked about a little bit NY about going out and and hunting like deer hunting or maybe hunting at night you know uh stay away from those areas don't be riding ATVs in those areas don't be hiking and canoeing down close to Rock Castle River give us some time to see if we can locate Mr couch in this national forest and and it's a big Forest y'all saw photos I've sent you videos this is not a small area and uh this is not this is not like going across the road and looking in the woods and and finding somebody this is the national forest this is thousands and thousands of Acres where Mr couch could have went and we have no evidence at this time that Mr couches has left there we have answered thousands of complaints not only in this area other counties other states and all over state of Kentucky if a complaint comes in we're going to investigate it we want those complaints to come in because we never know the smallest little tip what it's going to lead to so please the citizens of Kentucky and Laurel County and rockas County continue to call us and give us this information we're going to come out investigate it none of us came to tuition at this time nothing's came true but the next one might the next one might so keep calling them in and uh we're going to investigate them and as the search if it gets broader it just gets Brer if we have to take it somewhere else if technology takes it somewhere else we're going to investigate it but at this time there's nothing that we have came up with to say Mr Couch's left those woods there's nothing to say he's got in a car there's so many people that's got eyes on this investigation around the world that by now we should have got a pretty good tip that he has exited the woods we have not got that so our main focus is to remain in those woods until we find him and some people say well what if he's what if he's not alive anymore well we're going to stay in the woods till we find him and you know that's our job if he's dead or alive it's our job to try to find him and that's what we're going to do uh I want to thank you all the media yall you all been great uh I I asked you once uh yesterday about emailing and texting and calling keep doing it I will try my best to get back with you I can't get back to all of you but I will try to get back to you on a timely manner maybe it's just a little text to tell you hey we got a meeting here at 3:00 or or or what we're going to do and I know you have people that come in and reli you all that maybe not get that information but just give them my number and I will do my best to keep them informed of what's going on but you all done an excellent job I mean this is we don't want this publicity in Laurel County we don't want this we want you to pack up and go home to your families we want to go home to our families but we couldn't do it without you all so thank you all in for helping us with our jobs and um let me reiterate the Kentucky State Police is here for the man huntting the capture and apprehension of Mr couch so at this time I'll open up for any questions for me and if you have anything involving the Criminal part of this investigation you can ask uh the sheriff um or anybody on this stage if you have a question for them but this time I'll answer any questions that you have well I know you don't know this yet but given what you do know what are the odds he's dead or alive in your opinion well my opinion doesn't count I I I have 10,000 pinion and it changes daily um you know it was a lot hotter today um I hope he doesn't have water I hope he doesn't have food and I hope he's just he's wore out and eventually he'll walk out of them Woods that that's what I hope happens and we'll let the judicial system handle him as they seem fit and and everybody goes home safely to their families the note said he planned to kill himself do you um what do you make of that I don't know know what you're talking about if he is dead does that do you believe that that would make it easier for you guys to find him quicker than if he was alive or how does that work well if if if it continues to be hot outside and he has passed away you know um well nature takes care of itself I mean you can see a lot of things from the air and a lot of times buzzards start to fly and uh if if your body is decaying out there that that could help in this investigation and uh not saying that it will happen but that's that's human life it it's revolving that stuff happens just like an animal that passes away in the woods you're not aware of the not yes ma'am how is fishan wildlife helping you you know there is a river down there um and um it's not way up but it is up pretty good and they've got access to boats and and and stuff like that and they've got technology too um you know they're constantly in in the woods um and they have technology that we're using plus just boots on the ground you know relieving our Troopers and our deputies that are um you know if I took off walking right here walked a mile I'd be a little out of breath but I took off walk in here and it's straight up and straight down and I'm falling over rocks and through uh you know briers and thickets it's a little different kind of walk so just having the manpow to to relieve somebody uh you know they've helped tremendously along with all the other agencies you're you're not aware of the the text that he supposedly sent that said he planed to kill a lot of people at least try and then kill himself I am aware of that that's something that the sheriff I asked you at the beginning the sheriff would have to to explain on that stuff I'm here for the apprehension and the man hun but you can't ask that question to the sheriff yeah can uh I was just trying to see what what you guys make of that if you thought he was serious about that um what that tells you about State of Mind is anybody can anybody address that part of it we are aware of that uh but like I say this is a continuing investigation and uh that's been collected and handed over to the uh proper authorities to go through phones and stuff uh and and really right now now we we can't elaborate a whole lot on the evidence that's been collected can you tell us anything about if you've been to his home and collected anything from his computer or if any of that gave you any kind of clue as to what his State of Mind is where he might be or what his intentions might be I can tell you that we have been to the home and evidence has been collected but I can't elaborate no further on that sir do you still believe he acted alone at this time we have no reason to believe uh otherwise uh it's still being investigated it as the investigation continues I'm sure New Leads will develop uh but at this time um just him in terms of the tracking have you guys been able to to use dogs and can you tell us what kind of uh help that's been to you if that's provided anything that has been helpful at all thank you yes sir we have used several K9 dogs U not only in our agency but outside agencies theyve came in and they have helped with this and you know when it comes to a point in time um you know we have we have people that want to volunteer uh we got to make sure that they're proper U make sure they're equipped make sure you know we just can't put somebody out there cuz I'm I got a good blood hound and they're climbing up in woods and they get hurt you know we got to put people that that are trained for this and trained for this terrain uh we don't want to make another tragedy out of something so we have to make sure the right people to assist us um now we'll take all the help we can get it's just got to be the right help speaking of help can you talk about the reward essentially quadrupling since this began you know we we have Crim Stoppers uh in Laurel County that has donated uh quite a bit of funding for this and we've had a lot of private donors um I think in this maybe this community and surrounding communities um that have donated money some want to stay stay Anonymous and that's their right but we thank them because you know some somebody might have a tip they just don't want to tell us that maybe you know $225,000 will help them that tip and uh you know if it if that tip is great you know crime sers will will help him and we've also had other crimes Stoppers like Bluegrass crimes Stoppers that that has helped us spread the word you know cuz he might not be in our community he might have got out of here um and you never know somebody might see him somewhere in another town and that's why we're investigating those other tips at other locations have you guys gotten any credible tips that have assisted with either the surge or investigation we have got we've got a lot of tips that that that are still under investigation um that we are looking into and and this stuff comes in fast I mean it's moving fast and we have you know the ATF and Secret Service and not excuse me not the Secret Service but US Marshals and um ATF you know they're using their computer software stuff and trying to figure out technology um where information is and stuff like that uh so information is going so broad so fast and just collecting all together to help in this investigation where where it leads to you know say he he has got out of the woods you know like everybody wanted to know yesterday uh has he got a car and drove off you know we want to find out if he may contact somebody and at this time none of those have led anywhere in a previous presser you had mentioned that you can't rule out if he has another weapon have you been able to figure out what if any weapons are registered in his name that he might have with him at this time I I do not know that if he has another weapon um you know the ATF has has ran him to see if he he how many weapons he has has purchased or hasn't his name and um we don't know you know he could have bed a weapon or found a weapon um you know we we don't know that right now we know he committed a a harsh cruel act of violence and we got to consider him armed and dangerous until we locate him do you know did he the time between the time he sent the text and he actually went out do you know what that timeline was did he have a was this planned ahead or was it just right off the I will refer to the sheriff on that part you repeat that sir I was just wondering how much time between the time he sent the Tex and actually went out and did it was there any pre-planning or was it the time he sent the text and the time we we have that down to the minute but I'd really rather not discuss that at this time just because of the continue investigation is there any indication he took Provisions with him or planned for a longer stay in the woods that you've been able to find so far we have U received information uh that we have checked on uh we really can't confirm that at this time you know we there's several pieces that we've uh that we have investigated and U he uh We've recovered a lot of things a lot of different things that's pertinent in the investigation that I can't reveal to you um that's about all I can tell you right now at this point should continue to cancel as the manh continues I'm sorry do you think schools should continue to cancel as the man continues well you know they've chose to and that's strictly uh I've spoken to a lot of superintendents and Personnel at the different schools and U they've chose to do that just as a safety precaution you know uh we can't advise the as the Scotty said yesterday we can't advise the superintendent on what action to take that's solely up to the them a lot of businesses maybe you know they're doing outside drive-throughs only and locking the doors and that's just a precaution you know if anybody wants to take a precaution that's that's really left up to them we're not putting nothing out on it have the seers come across anything human activity Footprints Camp well the first night of the of the shooting and the next day um we did locate items at the sheriff's department and them had colle elected and some of those items is is it's part of the evidence but it's also some of the reasons we're still remaining in the woods cuz we have nothing to say hey let's go outside of the woods because we think that's where he's at due to some of that that evidence now I can't get into the evidence that was collected or found um but you know we're going to stay in there until we find him until stuff takes us to another Direction and and I believe the citizens you know if we just packed up the citizens of of Lower River Road Rock Castle County they expect us to stay there as long as we can until we come to resolve to find you know Mr couch uh or till we prove that he is not no longer there and um you know that's why we do this job is to protect the citizens sir is there new last 2 hours do what ma'am is have uned over the last 24 hours you know in the investigation part of it uh I can't I can't answer to that you know the sheriff's department has done a great job um they working with us and our partners um I think the technology that we've got that's been coming to us and um the the use of the more helicopters we're going over a more vast area and more drones coming there you got to look you you get a drone all it's fancy a drone only last about an hour or so up in the woods and when you're covering such a big area and that battery don't last long you had to bring it in to charge it and just like a helicopter you got to bring it in and get fuel in it and at night time it's not safe to have you know officers in the woods uh tromping around when they can't even see you know 5T in front of them I've sent video out you've seen and that's probably a very a mute video of really where they're going I mean that's uh it didn't have the pictures of the cliffs and the the the falloffs and stuff uh so it's um we're in a short period and especially with our helicopters you know um if you know that area if you drive through there in the morning what from about to about 10:30 there's fog it's a real thick fog area so us getting up in the air at certain times you know um our time's crunched a little bit but um we're going to take all the help we can get we're going to continue to to try to locate Mr couch until something tells us we need to go a different direction and I want to continue to thank you all youall asked great questions and and some of them you know we can't answer because it's part of the investigation but some of them we can and we want you to relay this stuff to the the communities and um if I can answer anything else I will if not we'll conclude this interview estim much covered you know how much you for our ground teams you know they're they's like snails they're going very slowly to make sure they don't leave anything unturned um you know it might be a a tree that's knocked over and doesn't look right way it's knocked over or something a a piece of trash on the ground uh or candy bar wrap or anything like that I mean we have to collect those and because that might be part of the evidence um the helicopter now they can get up and they can look at a large distance and you know the um the drones not as much as a helicopter but we cover a lot of ground with the helicopters can you tell us about any the technology on those helicopters are they using that Fleer that body heat that sort of thing and this time of year do the leaves interfere with that or have it been helpful well right now like you you you said it the leaves it's real thick it's there's leaves are not it's not really got cold enough to start the leaves start you know falling right now so uh it's very green it's it's like a jungle like I said it's pretty thick out there so they do have some hard times looking down but we've got several U we have spotters up there that are are constantly looking now they'll see every animal in the world you know uh running around we're just waiting to see somebody else that don't look like an animal running around and the flare system helps I mean it helps with the the the body heat at night time so and that's another thing a lot of people say Hey you ain't got boots on the ground or or our boots are on the ground our Troopers trust me our deputies trust me they're in the woods they're wore out you ought to see them when they come in they're ringing wet uh they are on the ground walking through these jungles and an every imaginable terrain that you could think of um and you've seen it you've seen the aerial you've seen some some of the walking uh it's not an easy task and they're doing that to make this community safer and um at night time our helicopters are flying they can Fleer they're looking for heat sources so if we see a heat source and that heat Source moving slowly or you know if it's moving really really fast it's probably a deer or something like that but if it's moving slowly they're going to try their best to now start tracking that heat source and getting Troopers and deputies to that area where they find that heat Source how long do you plan on expending this much resources on this search I mean at some point I'm sure it gets to be unsustainable well we'll keep going until we're told otherwise until we can find Mr couch or until something leads us in another Direction I want to thank you all and um we will we will come back tomorrow at 3: hopefully there'll be some more new leads hopefully we'll have Mr couch um detained and um thank you once again and please share this information get it out there and um maybe we can bring some rest and calm to Laurel County and Rock Castle County soon thank you