Juan Ayon-Barraza

VALLEJO — Six Bay Area police agencies teamed up Thursday night in an incident that left a Vallejo woman in critical condition and a suspect dead from a gunshot wound suffered while engaging with law enforcement officers.

The incident began just after 8 a.m. Thursday when the family of a 29-year-old missing Vallejo woman contacted police concerning her whereabouts.

Vallejo police stated in a press release Friday night that family members reported the woman was last seen shortly after 7:30 a.m. on the 900 block of Kentucky Street with the suspect in the case, 24-year-old Vallejo resident Juan Ayon Barraza.

The two had reportedly left to get breakfast but family members grew concerned and eventually confronted Barraza over the missing woman’s location, police said.

Barraza fled from the family members and later attracted the attention of neighboring law enforcement several hours later when a concerned resident spotted a man in a white van dumping what they believed was a body along the side of the freeway in the area of Pinehurst Road and Skyline Boulevard near Moraga.

The body left along the freeway was found to be that of the missing woman, who investigators say was still alive but suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to the hospital and was in critical condition, Vallejo police said Friday night.

A short time after the woman was found, officers located a white van driving on the freeway and tried to make a traffic stop. Rather than stop, the van fled the area and officers pursued it to Richmond, where it exited the freeway and was tracked down at South 37th Street and Stege Avenue.

Police report that the driver then rammed an Oakland police vehicle, injuring the two officers who were exiting. The suspect then pointed a firearm at officers and officers responded by firing at the man, fatally wounding him, Richmond police report.

Vallejo police worked in coordination with officers from the Oakland Police Department, Richmond Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Moraga Police Department and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department.

The two injured police officers were listed as stable after being transported to a hospital for their injuries.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Vallejo police Detective Craig Long at 648-4514 or Detective Josh Caitham at 648-4342; the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office at 925-957-2200; or Sgt. Aaron Pomeroy with the Richmond Police Department at 510-620-6616.