Kentucky police were searching for a suspect in rugged terrain near a national forest after at least seven people were wounded by gunfire while driving on the rural stretch of an interstate highway, authorities said Saturday night.
The incident began shortly before 6 p.m. (10:00 GMT) about nine miles outside the city of London, when officers responded to reports of shots fired at vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 in Laurel County. The shots came from a wooded area or an overpass, according to local media reports.
The mayor of London, a small town of about 8,000 people near the Daniel Boone National Forest about 90 miles south of Lexington, Randall Weddle, said in a Facebook post that seven people were injured, including some who were shot.
He said there were no known fatalities. Police did not provide further details on the number or nature of the victims.
Weddle asked everyone in the area to “keep their doors locked while this guy is on the loose.”
The shooting came days after two students and two teachers were killed and nine others were wounded at a high school in Winder, Georgia. A 14-year-old student and his father, suspected of giving their son access to the gun used in the shooting, were charged in the shootings, which took place shortly after the school year began.
A stretch of highway near the Kentucky shooting was closed, but later reopened even though the suspect was still at large.
About three hours after the shooting, the Laurel County Sheriff's Office named a “person of interest” who it said was “armed and dangerous” and warned the public not to approach the 32-year-old man.
“The suspect has not been apprehended at this time and we are urging people to stay inside,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Scottie Pennington wrote on Facebook.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called in to assist state police and local law enforcement, the federal agency said in a statement, calling it a “critical incident.”
