Guns and four bottles of prescription painkillers — three of them empty — were among the items seized after a drug raid at a Hampton home Saturday led to the homeowner's death during a shootout with police.
William A. Cooper, 69, was shot at about 10 a.m. after police — executing a search warrant seeking controlled prescription painkillers — forced entry into his home on Clifton Street in Wythe.
Police say Cooper opened fire on them in the home, and they had no choice but to shoot back. A friend of Cooper's says he thinks Cooper must have been startled by the raid and believed his home was being invaded by criminals.
The list of seized items, filed Tuesday in Hampton Circuit Court, included one empty bottle of OxyContin and three bottles of Oxycodone-acetaminophen — one containing pills and two of them empty.
Friends said Cooper used a cane, suffered from knee and back pain, and took a lot of pain medicine. The list of seized items doesn't include whether or not the prescriptions were valid ones in Cooper's name.
"We did locate evidence that supports the charge of distribution of illegal narcotics," police spokesman Jason Price said Tuesday.
The list of confiscated items includes 16 other pill bottles — for drugs used to treat symptoms ranging from arthritis to diabetes to seizures to heart disease.
A confidential informant had told police that Cooper was selling methadone, Percocet (one trade name for Oxycodone-acetaminophen) and other prescription drugs from his home. Methadone was not among the items seized.
Other seized items included Cooper's wallet, $903 in cash, his 2000 Lexus automobile — allegedly connected to the drug sales — as well as a vehicle title and "financial documents."
Also confiscated from Cooper's home — under a separate warrant issued after the shootout — were 16 guns, including revolvers, pistols, rifles and shotguns. Cartridge cases, bullets and other items also were seized.
