Fears are growing for a teenage girl who remains missing after she was last seen bleeding and screaming for help as police shoot dead her suspected kidnapper.
Pearl Pinson, 15, is thought to have been taken by Fernando Castro, 19, who was killed by gunfire at a mobile home park in Solvang, California.
It came after the sheriff's department in Santa Barbara spotted Castro's gold Saturn sedan driving in Vallejo yesterday afternoon.
When the deputies pursued the car, the driver shot at them, stopped, got out and then fled into a different vehicle at the mobile home park.
More shots were exchanged before the driver was killed, police said.
But despite the shootout missing Pearl has still not been found, two days after she first went missing.
Authorities have been frantically searching for her since a witness reported hearing a girl screaming for help as a man dragged her across a freeway overpass in Vallejo on Wednesday morning.
Solano County Sheriff Thomas Ferrara said: 'We continue our search, and we hope to find her alive.
Authorities described the two teens as acquaintances, but emphasised that they believe Pearl was taken unwillingly.
The search was set to continue through the night with an expanded search resuming Friday morning.
Authorities feared Pearl was in grave danger based on what the witness told deputies transpired on the pedestrian overpass on Wednesday.
The witness reported seeing a girl with a bleeding face pleading for someone to help her as a man armed with a handgun pulled her along.
Officials say the witness ran for assistance and heard a gunshot.
Deputies found what appeared to be blood and Pinson's cellphone on the overpass, but she has not been seen since.