LUFKIN, Texas (AP) - A Missouri trucker stopped by a Texas state trooper apparently killed himself before a load of marijuana was found in his truck sleeper.
Mason Burks was driving his tractor-trailer rig north on U.S. 59 near Lufkin Wednesday morning when a state trooper stopped him for a commercial inspection. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Greg Sanches says Trooper Mike McClain stepped up to the truck window and heard a gunshot.
McClain took cover, and after backup officers arrived stepped back up to the window and found the 46-year-old Springfield, Mo., man dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. Troopers found 603 pounds of marijuana in the sleeper of the truck cab.