Abducted Ohio State University student and suspected abductor killed in police shootout
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Skylar Williams and her suspected abductor, Ty'rell Pounds. (The Ohio State University at Mansfield)
An Ohio State University student and the man suspected of abducting her died Monday following a shootout with a Kentucky state trooper, authorities said Tuesday.
Kentucky State Police said in a statement that Skylar Williams, 20, was pronounced dead at the University of Louisville Hospital following the shooting in Oldham County. Her suspected abductor, 24-year-old Ty'rell Pounds, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities said Williams was taken at gunpoint earlier Monday from a parking lot on Ohio State's branch campus in Mansfield, 100 miles northeast of the university's flagship campus in Columbus. Investigators told Fox 8 Cleveland that Pounds had a previous relationship with Williams and was the father of her child. The station also reported that Williams had taken out an order of protection against Pounds and reported to Mansfield Police last month that she was assaulted by him in September.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Our Ohio State community suffered a tragic loss with the death of Mansfield student Skylar Williams," OSU President Michael Drake said in a statement released Tuesday. "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."
The university said counseling is available to members of the university community on the Mansfield campus.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m. Monday, Kentucky State Police responded to a 911 call from a witness who said she saw a woman being forced into a vehicle at a gas station in Gallatin County. Troopers pursued the vehicle south on Interstate 71 into Oldham County, where it exited the interstate at Highway 329 and stopped on the ramp.
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Police said a trooper heard gunfire from the vehicle and returned fire. The release said Williams was hit by at least one round, though it was not immediately clear who fired the fatal shot.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol told Fox 8 that the couple's child was safe with family members. The Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.