A manhunt is under way in Kentucky after a number of people were shot on a highway near the city of London on Saturday.
The incident began at about 17:30 local time (21:30 GMT). Police arrived and found nine vehicles had been shot into near Interstate 75.
Seven people have been injured, five of those seriously, according to the Laurel County Sheriff.
Mayor Randall Weddle of London said not all of these injuries were by gunshot, and that no-one had been killed.
Police have named Joseph A Couch, 32, as a person of interest and say he is considered armed and dangerous.
Laurel County Sheriff's Office A black and white picture of Joseph A Couch. He has a slight smile. Only his head is visible in the image.Laurel County Sheriff's Office
Thirty-two-year-old Joseph A Couch has been named by police as a person of interest
Mr Couch, from Woodbine in Kentucky is described as 5'10" (178cm) and weighs approximately 154 pounds (70kg).
Officers say shots were fired into vehicles travelling in both directions along the highway.
I–75 was closed for several hours because of the danger to passing cars.
According to local media, shots may have been fired from a wooded area near to the highway, or from an overpass.
"The suspect or suspects have not been apprehended at this time, but they are searching for them," said Mayor Randall in a video posted to Facebook at about 21:30 local time.
"Where they are currently, that is some rugged terrain and a lot of tree lines," he said.
Speaking to CNN, Christina DiNoto, who was driving on I-75 with a friend at the time of the shooting said "it was like a rock went through my back window", hurting her ear.
“We looked at each other and we were like, ‘Was that a gunshot?’ And then we’re like, ‘No, that wasn’t a gunshot.’”
She said it was only an hour and a half later they learnt that it had been a shooting.
Later on Friday, Mount Vernon Fire Department said a section of the highway close to where the shooting happened had reopened, after being closed for about three hours.
A spokesperson for the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington told the BBC's US partner, CBS News that it had received at least two patients from the incident so far, but there was no word on their conditions.
Trooper Scottie Pennington, a Kentucky State Police spokesperson, urged residents in the area to stay inside.
Members of the public have been warned not to approach the person of interest.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives also confirmed it was involved in the search.
Earlier, Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear wrote on social media that law enforcement had "shut the interstate down in both directions" near to where the shooting happened.
He said the area should be avoided, and urged the public to "pray for everyone involved".
London is a small city of about 8,000 residents near the Daniel Boone National Forest.
Randall Weddle, mayor of London, Kentucky, told local media that in addition to the wounded there were more people hurt in a car accident caused by the shooting.
The shooting did not appear to be random, he told the Louisville Courier-Journal, while a radio host reported that it was sparked “by two cars in an altercation.”
The suspected shooter opened fire onto Interstate 75 from a wooded area off the highway, Weddle said.
There were “multiple severe injuries” but no confirmed deaths, local news station WYMT reported.
Authorities were searching for Joseph Couch, 32, considered a person of interest in the shooting that temporarily closed I-75 in both directions due to the “active shooter situation.”
“Consider armed and dangerous,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. “Do not attempt to approach.”
Kentucky State Police spokesman Scottie Pennington posted on Facebook that “we are urging people to stay inside.”
He later told the Louisville Courier Journal that “we have no clue where (the suspect) is at.”
Rural Laurel County is south of the city of Lexington along I-75, a major north-south artery cutting across the eastern half of the United States.
Saturday’s incident comes after two students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting in Georgia.
A 14-year-old boy was charged with murder while his father, who had allegedly purchased the gun for him as a gift, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder.
More guns than people
Gun violence is common in the United States, a country where there are more firearms than people.
Despite polls showing Americans favor more gun restrictions, a powerful gun rights lobby, constitutional protections and a passionate culture around firearm ownership mean that attempts to clamp down on weapons are always met with stiff political resistance.
Georgia high school student, 14, kills 4 and wounds 9 in campus shooting
A 2022 gun safety package passed by Congress was the most notable in decades, beefing up background checks and supporting states that passed so-called “Red Flag” laws, which allow for the seizure of weapons from people deemed high risk.
Still, advocates say much more needs to be done.
That same year, over 48,000 people died as a result of firearms, according to the surgeon general, which this year issued a landmark advisory declaring gun violence a “public health crisis.”
Gun rights and gun violence regularly feature in elections.
Republican candidate Donald Trump, seen by his party as a champion for gun rights, posted on social media that “our hearts are with the victims” of the Georgia shooting.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, a onetime prosecutor and attorney general of California and former US senator, called on Congress to “finally” pass an assault weapons ban.
It would be similar to the one President Joe Biden helped write as a senator and get passed into law in 1994. It expired after a decade, without being renewed by Congress.
