Mom of toddler shot, killed outside police station during custody exchange

The father of a 17-month-old girl shot and killed the child's mother in front of a California police station, authorities said.

According to KABC-TV, the incident occurred about 6 p.m. Sunday outside the Hawthorne Police Department, where the 30-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were meeting to exchange custody of the toddler. Authorities said the man brought the girl into the police station, then went back outside, retrieved a gun from his truck and shot the woman, KCBS-TV reported.

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As the man fled, a police officer ran outside and shot at him, authorities said. Police arrested the suspect nearby after a three-hour manhunt, KABC reported.

Female killed in front of the HPD station. Suspect vehicle located abandoned in the area of 133/Hawthorne. We are actively searching for the suspect. This is an officer involved shooting incident.
— Hawthorne Police (@HawthornePD) April 8, 2019

The identities of the suspect and victim were not immediately released.

Police Lt. Scott Hoaglund said in a news conference that he's "never seen anything like this before" in his 30 years with the department.

"Typically a police station is a safe place for people to make a child exchange, and I would still recommend that people do that," he said, according to KCBS.