Authorities say a woman has shot and killed a driver during a Northern California police chase after she claimed he kidnapped her and a 10-month-old child.
Police in Fairfield say the 24-year-old woman was in a white station wagon Thursday afternoon when she yelled to a police sergeant that she’d been kidnapped.
“She was being assaulted and held against her will,” Fairfield Police Department Lt. Greg Hurlbut told KTLA sister station KTXL in Sacramento. “[The officer] tried to stop that vehicle at the traffic stop and the driver took off driving down this road.”
A car chase began during which investigators say the woman managed to shoot the driver. The car crashed into two other vehicles.
“They came up, contacted the driver. They quickly realized that there was a medical emergency and it actually appeared the driver had received a gunshot wound,” Hurlbut said.
The man died at a hospital. He has not yet been identified.
The woman and the child were uninjured.
A weapon was recovered in the vehicle, and it was believed to be the one used to shoot the driver, according to KTXL.
Police say the driver and the woman were in a relationship and lived together in Fairfield and the incident is being investigated as a domestic dispute.
Hurlbut told KTXL he thought the woman was the mother of the baby.
The investigation is ongoing, and it’s still unclear if any charges will be filed.