Two West Virginia cops shot in roadside gun fight that turns up 2 dead bodies: police
The officers are expected to survive after the 4 p.m. New Year's Day shootout outside Lewisburg, W. Va., that ended with the arrest of a father and son duo from Texas suspected in a multi-state crime spree. Authorities identified the men as 21-year-old Eric Campbell and his father, 54-year-old Edward Campbell. The bodies of a North Carolina couple were found in the bed of a stolen truck, police said.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Friday, January 2, 2015, 8:51 AM
Updated: Friday, January 2, 2015, 3:55 PM
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GREENBRIER COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTEric Campbell, 21, is being held without bail as a suspect in two North Carolina murders and the shooting of two West Virginia police officers.
Two West Virginia police officers were shot during a New Year’s Day traffic stop gun fight that turned up the dead bodies of a North Carolina couple hidden under a mattress in a truck bed.
The two officers are expected to survive their injuries from the afternoon shootout outside Lewisburg, W. Va., where officers pulled over a white Chevrolet SUV around 4 p.m. after the North Carolina plates turned up stolen, police said.
At the same time, a red truck pulled over nearby and at least one person opened fire on the cops, striking them both. They returned fire, hitting the gunman.
WVNSAuthorities search for the gunman after a shootout that left two cops injured and turned up two dead bodies in the back of a red pickup in West Virginia Thursday afternoon.
The gunman took off, but he was later apprehended in a patch of woods. The driver of the SUV took off and hid a few miles up the road before turning himself in about 90 minutes after the shootout.
Cops later revealed the suspects, 21-year-old Eric Campbell and 54-year-old Edward Campbell are father and son from Indian Acres, Tex., who apparently went on a multistate crime spree that ended in the West Virginia shootout, WVNS-TV reported.
ABC 11Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife Dora, 62, were murdered at their home in Oak Hill, N.C., and their bodies stashed in a stolen pickup truck where they were later discovered hidden under a mattress in West Virginia.
A search of the truck turned up the dead bodies of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his 62-year-old wife, Dora. Police believe the suspects burst into the couple’s Oak Hill, N.C., home around 7 a.m. Thursday, killed the couple, set the house afire and stole the victim’s truck before driving off to West Virginia, authorities told WRAL-TV.
"When we first got the call, we thought it was just a structure fire," Granville County, N.C., Sheriff Brindell Wilkins Jr. told the station. “As things progressed, we found some things here that didn’t look right.”
WVNSThe son in the crime duo was on the lam for 90 minutes after the traffic stop and gunfight before he turned himself in, police said.
The wounded suspect was shot in the leg and is expected to recover, while the two cops are in “good but stable condition,” a hospital spokesman told West Virginia MetroNews. The outlet later reported the officers "spirits are high," according to Lewisburg Police Chief Tim Stover. Authorities identified the two as officers Jeromy Dove and Nicholas Sams, both of whom suffered superficial wounds.
“We’re fortunate as we start 2015 that we didn’t have two officers that were killed here,” West Virginia State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous told the outlet. “Our hopes and prayers for them is a speedy recovery.”
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The suspects are in custody and expected to be charged with malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer. Eric Campbell, his mugshot showing a bruised face with two black eyes, is being held without bail at the Southern Regional Jail, while his father is still hospitalized at the Charleston Area Medical Center.
Authorities in North Carolina say the murdered couple were likely the victims of a random robbery. The suspects will be charged with murder for the crimes there, authorities said.
The victims were well-known in the community, where Jerome Faulkner had served as a fire chief.
"Everyone in the community thought a lot of (the Faulkners)," Sheriff Wilkins told WRAL. "The community at this point is in shock. This kind of thing does not happen here."
