Rifle, drugs found in pickup after Virginia fatal wreck

By The Associated Press

WYTHEVILLE, Va. (AP) — Virginia State Police have confiscated a semiautomatic assault rifle and drugs from a pickup truck involved in a fatal crash in southwestern Virginia.

Spokeswoman Corinne Geller says 32-year-old John C. Parker of Jackson, Miss., is being held at New River Regional Jail in Pulaski County.

He’s charged with reckless driving, felony possession of a firearm while in possession of narcotics, and other drug counts in Saturday’s crash on U.S. Route 21 in Wythe County that killed three people and injured five others.

Geller says in addition to the rifle, the search of Parker’s pickup found a significant quantity of methamphetamine, containers and vials of prescription narcotics, and drug paraphernalia.

The crash killed Rufus S. Jones and Taurean Walker, both of Eckman, W.Va., and Florence J. Braxton of North Fork, W.Va.