A student abducted from Ohio State University on Monday was killed after a police chase with her alleged captor — whom she has a child with — ended in gunfire.
Skylar Williams, 20, was taken from the university's Mansfield campus Monday after Ty'Rell Pounds — identified by local outlets as her ex-boyfriend — approached her with a handgun and forced her into his car, the university said in a statement.
Pounds, 24, fled the campus in his car — then later ditched it and carjacked another vehicle at gunpoint, the university said.
Pounds and Williams have a child together who was with another family member when the abduction occurred, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Just before 3:30 p.m. on Monday a witness called police saying they saw a woman in distress being forced into a vehicle by a man at a gas station in Kentucky, police said. The witness who provided authorities with a description of the vehicle said it appeared the woman was asking for help.
Kentucky State police officers found the car and tried to pull it over. When the car failed to stop a police pursuit ensued, and Pounds was able to evade the stop sticks police set up.
Police eventually brought the car to a halt as he was exiting Highway 329.
Authorities initially said that as a trooper approached the vehicle to arrest Pounds he heard a gunshot and then opened fire, killing Pounds. During a press conference Wednesday, the Kentucky State Police Commissioner Richard Sanders said he could not confirm if the trooper heard a gunshot. Instead, Sanders said, the trooper opened fire when he saw Pounds had a gun.
The trooper, who Sanders said is "a model for other law enforcement personnel," with no disciplinary record, yelled out that the suspect has a gun and then fired several times at Pounds, who was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Williams was also struck by a bullet, police said. It was initially unclear if Williams was shot by Pounds or the police but on Wednesday Sanders confirmed that the bullet that killed Williams came from Pounds' firearm.
It is not yet known if she was shot once police stopped Pounds' car or earlier.
According to Sanders the troopers on the scene tried to save Williams' life by using a tourniquet to stop the bleeding but she was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The trooper who fired his gun was placed on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing, Sanders said.
"This senseless and shocking incident has left our campus shaken. We join Mansfield Dean Norman Jones in expressing our condolences and deepest sympathies. Our thoughts and prayers are with Skylar's family," Ohio State University's president Michael V. Drake said in a statement.