Update: Driver charged after two from West Plains killed

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     (AP) – A truck driver is facing two counts of second-degree
murder after a traffic accident killed two people from West Plains.
     Webster County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Berkstresser on Thursday charged 33-year-old Adam Housley of Mountain Grove.
     Investigators say 48-year-old Tisha Briggs and 47-year-old Leo Walker, of West Plains died in the accident Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 60 in Seymour. According to a report from KY3 News in Springfield,
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the two lived in West Plains, but a woman who knows them says they lived in Bremerton, Washington.
     Missouri State Troopers say the two were in a pickup truck stopped at a red light when it was hit from behind by a semitrailer truck and pushed into the back of another semitrailer. They died at the scene. The drivers of the trucks were not hurt.
     KY3 News says the second-degree murder charges are because the prosecutor believes Housley “"knowingly or with the purpose of causing serious physical injury” " ran his truck into the back of the pickup. According to the prosecutor’s request for a $750,000 bond, Housley "“made statements that God caused him to do it." He made statements to family indicating he has been homicidal. Defendant’s acts show a disregard for human life and in no way reflected that his acts were accidental.”
     According to the probable cause statement used as the basis of charges against Housley, troopers said Housley "“became combative and pushed"” a Seymour police officer at the scene. That’s when officers detained him and put him in the back of a patrol car. A trooper, Webster County sheriff’s deputy and a Seymour officer all said they heard Housley say, "“God told me to do it",” and "“it’s my destiny".” He also told a deputy that “"God wants you to shoot me; God wants you to kill me.”"

   
     
    
 

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