ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MARION
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
AN OFFICER pulled the Chilhowie man and his son from a burning car after a police chase ended in a wreck, but it was already too late.
A 26-year-old Chilhowie man apparently killed himself after fatally shooting his girlfriend and their 21-month-old son in separate incidents early Monday in Smyth County.
Authorities said Eric Michael Shazier shot his son and then himself after wrecking his car during a chase north of Marion. Earlier, Shazier shot his girlfriend and a friend in Chilhowie, police said. The friend survived.
Chilhowie Police Chief Scott Sexton said his department got a call shortly after midnight Sunday saying shots had been heard at the trailer home of Tyrone Montgomery, 39, of Chilhowie.
Officer L.R. Romans found Montgomery inside the home with gunshot wounds to his back and right arm. Montgomery told the officer that Michelle Olson, 23, also had been shot and was outside.
Romans made a quick search and found Olson's body near the trailer. She had been shot in the head.
Montgomery, who was later treated at Smyth County Community Hospital for his injuries and released, said he and Olson had been walking from a storage trailer to Montgomery's home and Olson was carrying an armful of clothing.
"That's when they were met by Shazier," Sexton said. Shazier was on foot, having apparently parked his car nearby.
Authorities issued a bulletin for Shazier. Sexton said whatever led to the shootings is still unclear, and that Shazier and Montgomery had known one another for years. Olson had moved into the Chilhowie area from Maine several years ago.
Marion Police Department Cpl. Steve Farris spotted Shazier's car driving north on Virginia 16 in the direction of Hungry Mother State Park.
Farris succeeded in pulling over the car but, as he got out and started toward it, the driver sped away. Farris gave chase again until it struck a parked motor home at the Hungry Mother campground, just outside the park, and caught fire.
Shazier was slumped over the wheel of the car, and Farris pulled him free and dragged him away from the car. He went back and found the man's son, Eric Michael Shazier, and carried him away as well.
Until then, authorities had not known that Shazier had his son with him.
But it was too late. Both Shazier and his son were pronounced dead at nearby Smyth County Community Hospital. Sexton said it appears that Shazier shot his son and himself after he wrecked his car.
Sexton said all three bodies would be sent to the state medical examiner's office in Roanoke today for autopsies. "That should give us some more answers," he said.
He said the Marion Police Department, Smyth County Sheriff's Office and Virginia State Police were involved in the investigation. "We're all working together on this because it crossed so many jurisdictions," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB