A pickup truck used by the suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia police officers on New Year's Day yielded the bodies of an elderly couple from North Carolina.

The unnamed police officers from the town of Lewisburg were conducting a traffic stop along Interstate 64 when they flagged down a white SUV for displaying stolen license plates. A short time later, another driver pulled up in a red pickup truck and began shooting at the officers with a handgun.

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When the officers returned fire, the driver of the white SUV fled and hid behind a guardrail along the interstate but soon gave himself up. The driver of the pickup truck believed to be his father "went over the hillside and was eventually taken into custody," according to state police Lt. Michael Baylous.

One of the officers suffered an injured rib cage when a bullet hit his bulletproof vest while one bullet grazed the other officer, Donna Hinkle, director of administration at the Greenbrier County 911 Center told NBC News.

A search of the father's truck revealed the bodies of two recently deceased couple under a mattress on the truck's bed. They were later identified by North Carolina's Granville County Sheriff as Jerome Faulkner, 73, and Dora Faulkner, 62.

Sheriff Brindell Wilkins said the Faulkners were victims of a home invasion in Oak Hill, North Carolina. The suspects had broken into their house, set it on fire and had taken the couple's SUV.

It was not clear if the suspects targeted the victims specifically or if the Faulkners were killed during or shortly after the home invasion.

The suspects would be charged initially with malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer. Aside from West Virginia and North Carolina police, Texas authorities are joining the investigation after it was found out that the suspects have come all the way from the state.

TagsWest Virginia shooting, police, jerome faulkner, dora faulkner