By Rich McKay
(Reuters) – Kentucky police searched rugged terrain near a national forest for a suspect after at least seven people were wounded by gunfire while driving along a rural stretch of highway, officials said on Saturday night.
The incident began just before 6:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT) about nine miles outside the city of London, when officers responded to reports of gunfire aimed at vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 in Laurel County. The shots came from a wooded area or an overpass, according to local media.
Mayor Randall Weddle of London, a small town of about 8,000 near the Daniel Boone National Forest about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Lexington, said in a Facebook post that seven people were injured, including several who had been shot. He said there were no known fatalities. Police gave no further details about the number or nature of any casualties.
Weddle asked everyone in the area to “keep their doors locked while this man is at large.”
The shooting comes 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, who are suspected of giving his son access to the gun used in the shooting, have been charged in the shooting, which occurred shortly after the start of the school year.
A stretch of highway near the Kentucky shooting was closed but later reopened, even though the suspect remained at large.
About three hours after the shooting, the Laurel County Sheriff's Office listed 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 urge people to remain indoors,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Scottie Pennington wrote on Facebook.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called to assist state police and local law enforcement, the federal agency said on X, calling it a “critical incident.”
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; additional reporting by David G. Morgan; editing by Frank McGurty and Sonali Paul)
