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Amateur bounty hunter couple key to finding body believed to be Kentucky highway shooting suspect
Days after a shooter attacked an interstate and disappeared, leaving a Kentucky community scared and on guard, Fred and Sheila McCoy decided to lace up their boots for the first time in a long time and spend days in rugged terrain searching until, finally, they found a body.
Kentucky State Police credited Fred and Sheila McCoy, who typically spend their retired days creating YouTube videos about the Hatfield-McCoy feud, with helping investigators find what they believe are the remains of Joseph Couch. Couch, 32, is suspected of firing randomly at vehicles on Interstate 75 on Sept. 7, wounding five people. The suspect wrote in a text message, “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least,” according to an affidavit for his arrest obtained by CBS News. All five victims were expected to survive the shooting.
The person believed to be Couch died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Kentucky’s Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. William Ralston. An autopsy performed on Thursday “revealed the cause of death to be a wound consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head,” Ralston said in a statement. A weapon was found with the body, police said. A soft tissue DNA test was inconclusive on the identification of the body, and testing on the bones could take up to two days, Ralston said. A toxicology test is also pending.
Timothy D. Easley / AP
Teams of local, state and federal law enforcement had searched tens of thousands of acres of woods since the shooting. Authorities warned residents to be extra vigilant and some schools temporarily shifted to virtual learning. Laurel County Public Schools turned to remove learning for three days, before resuming in-person learning.
“For one week we turned into bounty hunters,” Fred McCoy told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The more we was watching the news and saw lockdowns and school closings, the more we were compelled to search for him.”
The discovery of the remains calmed fears in the eastern Kentucky community of London, just a few miles from where the shooter perched above the highway and opened fire with an AR-15. State police said Wednesday night that the McCoys would receive a $25,000 reward for the find.
Once the identification is fully confirmed, it will “bring to a close a pretty scary time in that community and the surrounding communities,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.
Vultures circling in the air
In a 30-minute YouTube livestream Wednesday, the McCoys are filming in dense woods after they see vultures in the air, and Sheila McCoy says she can smell a foul odor.
“Oh, Lord, this is nasty. Oh, my goodness, this is gross,” Sheila says while warning her husband to watch out for snakes.
At the end of the video, they discover the remains. “Hey, guys, you won’t believe it, we found him, oh, my goodness gracious,” Sheila McCoy says in the video.
Police were also searching the area, and the couple identified themselves to officers about 12 minutes before they found the remains. They’d also warned police and friends they’d be there, and were livestreaming on YouTube in case something went wrong, Fred McCoy said.
“We didn’t know we was going to find him like that,” he said. “We could’ve found him with a gun pointed at us.”
The McCoys live a couple of counties away from where the shooter attacked. They hadn’t gone on a hike in the woods in a long time – Sheila, 59, had previously had back surgery and her husband, 66, had knee surgery – but they decided after a Friday night date to help in the search, said Fred McCoy, himself a retired police officer. He said the couple has been married for 39 years.
“We were just a crippled old man and crippled old woman walking in the woods,” he said Thursday in a follow-up video. Fred McCoy said he is a descendant of a Hatfield-McCoy marriage and they run a small museum related to the history of the feud.
He estimated the remains were about a mile away from where the shooter opened fire. Nearby, police found Couch’s vehicle and an AR-15 last week.
The discovery of the body put nearby residents at ease after more than a week of tension with a gunman on the loose near their homes.
“I feel a huge sense of relief,” said Heather Blankenship, a mother of three who lives near London. She saw the body in the McCoys’ video, which has grown to nearly a half-million views in less than 24 hours, and even though her anxiety is gone and her sense of normalcy has returned, it’s still sad, she said.
“I’m over here relieved that to me this monster is dead,” but meanwhile, the suspect’s family is grieving, Blankenship said.
Authorities said the shooter fired 20 to 30 rounds, creating chaos. The five victims survived, but some suffered serious injuries.
Authorities said Couch purchased the AR-15 weapon and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a London gun store hours before the shooting.
Laurel County Judge-Executive David Westerfield sensed a collective sigh of relief among residents.
“They feel like they can go back to their normal lifestyle,” he said.
CBS News
Trump rails against Jewish Americans who don’t vote for him in speech focused on antisemitism
Washington, D.C. — Former President Donald Trump criticized Jewish Americans who don’t vote for him in speeches aimed at addressing antisemitism Thursday night in Washington D.C., while claiming that if he is not elected in November, Israel would be “eradicated.”
“If I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because at 40%, that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy,” Trump said.
Trump made the comments during a small event focused on addressing antisemitism with Dr. Miriam Adelson, a prominent Republican Party donor and the widow of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
“With all I’ve done for Israel, I received only 24% of the Jewish vote,” Trump said.
Trump later repeated the comment regarding the polls during remarks at the Israeli-American Council National Summit, which was gathering to commemorate the nearing one-year mark of the October 7 attack.
“You should have your head examined, because it will face an unceasing, bloody war to obliterate the Jewish state and drive Jews out of the Holy Land,” Trump said about Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats. He claimed at his first stop that Democrats have a “hold” or “curse” on Jewish voters.
“It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let this happen. 40% is not acceptable, because we have an election to win,” Trump said.
Trump told the ballroom full of Israeli-Americans tonight that Israel will face “total annihilation” if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected.
“Rockets will rain down from above until the Iron Dome has been exhausted,” Trump said.
CBS News has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
The former president also recognized the Israelis still held hostage by Hamas, vowing to “get them out” if he wins the presidency in November. Family members of victims of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas were among the crowd.
“Somehow it’s going to work out. We’re going to get it to work out,” Trump said.
The twin speeches come as Trump tries to court Jewish American voters who may have become disaffected with factions of the Democratic Party over the Biden administration’s handling of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
An April 2024 Pew Research survey found that 69% of registered Jewish voters defined themselves as Democrats, while 29% said that they consider themselves Republicans, but Trump grew his support among Jewish voters in the first two presidential elections he ran in, an Associated Press survey found.
“Honestly, I went from 25 to 29 [percent support], and based on what I did, and based on my love of- the same love that you have, I should be at 100. I should be at 100,” Trump said Thursday.
Using a similar format to her former long-running talk show, Oprah Winfrey hosted a campaign event with Vice President Kamala Harris in suburban Detroit Thursday evening which featured a mix of celebrities, campaign organizers and a crowd of battleground state voters.
The event in Farmington Hills, Michigan — which had an in-person crowd of a few hundred and also featured virtual attendees — opened with talk of a “new day” and the sense of “joy” Democrats have associated with the Harris campaign. But the conversation later steered towards issues featuring personal, intimate stories of people impacted by state abortion bans and school shootings.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
The parents of Natalie Griffith, a 15-year-old injured in the deadly Apalachee High School shooting earlier this month in Winder, Georgia, spoke. Griffith’s mother, Marilda, made an emotional plea for a “change to be made” to address gun violence. Her father, Doug — who noted that he was not a registered Democrat — called for metal detectors to be placed inside schools.
Harris did not explicitly say if she agreed with the call for metal detectors, but said “we just need to apply common sense.” She repeated her calls for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks. When Winfrey made note of Harris being a gun owner, as she revealed in prior campaigns and repeated in her debate with Trump, Harris said that “if somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.”
“Sorry, probably should not have said that,” Harris joked. “My staff will deal with that later.”
The mother and sisters of Amber Thurman — a Georgia woman who died in 2022 after medical care was delayed due to the state’s abortion ban — also spoke for the first time publicly since the ProPublica report about Thurman was released.
“I’m beyond hurt, disappointed…we trusted them to take care of her, you know?” said CJ, Thurman’s sister. “And they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. They treated her like she was just another number.”
Harris called Thurman’s death “preventable,” and as she has throughout her campaign and vice presidency, blamed former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointments for leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She also criticized states with abortion restrictions but have exceptions “to save the life of the mother,” arguing it should not reach that point.
“So is she on death’s door before you actually decide to give her help, Is that what we’re saying?” Harris asked. “Like, literally, a doctor or a nurse has to say, ‘She might die any minute, better give her care.'”
Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who was impregnated by her father at 12-years-old and was able to get an abortion, also spoke. Duvall had been featured in several of Harris’ campaign ads, and also spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
The event was livestreamed and conducted in an interview-style discussion similar to Winfrey’s old talk show. It was billed as a way to bring together many pro-Harris coalitions, including “Win with Black Women,” “White Dudes for Harris” and “Swifties for Harris.”
All are groups that have been holding Zoom conference calls to raise money for Harris’ campaign and mobilize voters. Harris campaign advisers saw the event as a way to reach persuadable voters, and Winfrey often structured her questions to be geared towards undecided voters.
Several celebrities also appeared by video, including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jennifer Lopez, Julie Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bryan Cranston and Meryl Streep.
Earlier Thursday, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley panned the event, saying in a statement that Harris was campaigning with “an out-of-touch celebrity, further confirming that the Democrat party is not the party of hardworking Americans – it is the party of elitists.”
Streep asked Harris what her plan would be if she wins in November and there is another push to try and overturn the election results, as Trump and some Republicans are criminally charged with allegedly doing in 2020.
“We will be ready,” Harris said, pointing to Republicans disaffected by the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection that may vote for her. “To try and upend a free and fair election where the American people voted, that was a bridge too far for a lot of people…I think there is absolutely no tolerance whatsoever from the vast majority of Americans for that, and they’ve seen the lies.”
Harris made a quick reference to her campaign’s legal team, and pleaded for the audience to help curb misinformation and support poll workers.
Winfrey, an independent who has endorsed Harris and spoke at the DNC last month, closed the program with a call to undecided voters to choose Harris.
“This is the moment for people who are tired of all of the bickering and all of the name calling, people who are exhausted by the craziness and the made up stories and the conspiracies. This is the moment you want to get on with your life, because you know that we can do better and that we deserve better.”
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