SMYTH COUNTY, Va. – A 31-year-old Saltville man faces two felony charges after, state police said, a shooting and a crash that killed one person and sent two others to the hospital in Smyth County early Monday morning.
The incident began when, state police said, Curtis Nipper Jr., who now faces charges of murder and malicious wounding, and his girlfriend got into an argument shortly after 2 a.m. at their residence on Poor Valley Road.
She walked out of the residence and was on Allison Gap Road when Nipper drove up in a 1997 Buick LeSabre, according to police who said she then got into the car.Â
Meanwhile, police said, there was a domestic incident going on simultaneously at a residence nearby, in the 500 block of Allison Gap Road.
Nipper, his girlfriend, then had an encounter with two individuals at the Allison Gap Road residence - a 46-year-old man and Katherine Hogston, 67 - according to police.
As Nipper and his girlfriend drove away in the Buick, police said, the 46-year-old man, who had a pistol, fired a shot.Â
Nipper then turned the car around and drove back toward the Allison Gap Road residence, where he ran into and killed Hogston, while seriously injuring the 46-year-old man, according to police.
Police said that Nipper then lost control of the car and ran off the road and into a creek.
He was not injured in the crash, but his girlfriend was taken to Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said neither Nipper nor his girlfriend had been wearing a seat belt.
Hogston's remains were transported to the office of the medical examiner in Roanoke for examination and autopsy.Â
The 46-year-old Saltville male was transported to Bristol Regional Medical Center for treatment of serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries.Â
The incident remains under investigation.
Nipper is being held without bond at Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon.
Additional charges related to the incident are pending.