A fatal traffic accident-- reportedly connected to an earlier reported homicide-- temporarily closed all lanes of Interstate 295 just north of Richmond, Va., Friday afternoon, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Three people died in the incident occurred in the southbound lanes near the US 301 interchange in Hanover County just before 3 p.m. local time.
Chesterfield County police notified state authorities that a suspect in a homicide reported earlier in the day was heading northbound on I-295 near Mechanicsville.
When a state police cruiser approached the suspect's vehicle, it sped away and soon veered left into the grass median, Sgt. Steve Vick of the Virginia State Police told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The vehicle then drove across the median and into the southbound lanes, colliding head-on with a Chevrolet and causing a chain reaction crash involving two other southbound cars.
Vick told the Times-Dispatch that the driver of the suspect vehicle as well as the two occupants of the Chevrolet died at the scene.
Earlier Friday, law enforcement officers conducting a welfare check found a woman and a 2-year-old child dead inside a home in Chesterfield, about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported.
Police had not yet identified the victims in the crash.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
