2 Arrested On Intoxication, Gun Charges After Fiery Crash In Shrewsbury

SHREWSBURY (CBS) - Two people were arrested on gun and alcohol intoxication charges after their car crashed into another vehicle in Shrewsbury early Monday morning, and caused the car struck to be set on fire.

Shrewsbury Police responded to a report about the crash at around 2:15 a.m. After arriving on the scene, officers discovered a black Lexus located off the road and in the parking lot of a Burger King.

Meanwhile, a Chevy Equinox was found standing on its roof with flames in the intersection of Route 9 and Quinsigamond Avenue. The Shrewsbury Fire Department helped get the driver of the Equinox out of their car. The person was later taken to UMass Hospital in Worcester to be treated.

While searching the Lexus, police later found two handguns and arrested two of the five people that were in the car - 23-year-old Leosol Vargas of Hopkinton and 22-year-old Benjamin Peter of West Boylston.

Among the charges against Vargas is operating under the influence resulting in serious bodily injury, operating to endanger, drinking alcohol from an open container, and possession of narcotics.

Peterson is being charged with obstruction of justice, two counts of illegal storage of a firearm, and two counts of an intoxicated licensee carrying a firearm.

Police say there were shell cases found in a separate parking lot that matched the shells for at least one of the handguns seized.

The incident is still under investigation.