Authorities said that remains were discovered near the site of the attack that left five people seriously wounded, ending a 12-day search.
A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge.
The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred. The authorities found items with the body that were believed to belong to the suspect, Mr. Burnett said.
“The people of Laurel County can rest easy — much easier — knowing that this manhunt has now come to a conclusion,” he said.
The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.
According to a police affidavit in support of arrest warrants, Mr. Couch purchased an AR-15-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition just hours before the shooting. He then sent a series of alarming text messages, including one that read: “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least.”
The manhunt, which on Wednesday stretched into its 12th day, began shortly after the shooting in a remote wooded area near London, a city of about 8,000 people located roughly an hour south of Lexington.
