Sheriff IDs Man Killed By Police After Kidnapping Woman

RICHMOND, CA — The suspect in an attempted murder shot and killed by police Thursday in Richmond following a vehicle pursuit from Oakland to Richmond has been identified as 24-year-old Juan Ayon-Barraza, 24, of Vallejo.

On Thursday at 8:08 a.m., the Vallejo Police Department received a call about a missing at-risk 29-year-old woman.

Concerned family members reported the woman was last seen at 7:35 a.m. in the 900 block of Kentucky Street in Vallejo with Ayon-Barraza.

The victim told family members she was going to have breakfast with him, but a short time later Ayon-Barraza called the victim's family and made an "unsettling comment," Vallejo police said.

The victim's family contacted Ayon-Barraza in person at 8 a.m. and confronted him in an attempt to find out where the victim was, but he was evasive with the family and fled.

That same day at 6:45 p.m., the Oakland Police Department, the Moraga Police Department and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call reporting a body being abandoned on the side of the road in the area of Pinehurst Road and Skyline Boulevard along the border of Contra Costa and Alameda counties in unincorporated Moraga, according to the Richmond Police Department.

The woman was suffering from at least one gunshot wound and was unresponsive. Investigators determined she was the same woman reported missing earlier from Vallejo.

She was transported to the hospital and listed in critical condition Friday night.

A witness described the suspect vehicle involved in the incident as a white Chevrolet Astro van. Responding officers from Moraga located the vehicle and attempted to pull it over, but the vehicle did not stop, police said, and a 20-minute pursuit ensued into Oakland and then Richmond.

Richmond police said the suspect traveled to the area of South 37th Street and Stege Avenue, where he pointed a firearm in the direction of officers while making a U-turn at South 37th Street and Carlson Boulevard. Multiple Oakland and Richmond police officers shot at the suspect in response, according to police.

The vehicle then crossed over into traffic on Stege Avenue and hit an Oakland police car as two officers were exiting their vehicle, according to police. The suspect suffered a fatal gunshot wound and died at the scene.

Two Oakland police officers were injured when the suspect's van crashed into their police vehicle. The officers were transported to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening, police said.

Multiple agencies are investigating the incident including the Oakland Police Department, the Richmond Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Moraga Police Department, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office and the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office.

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