(KAIR)--Officials in Leavenworth and Atchison have released more information regarding the fatal Friday evening shooting of a child in Leavenworth. 

During a Saturday morning press conference, Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said the victim has been identified as 5-year-old Cadence Harris of Leavenworth. 

The shooting happened as part of a vehicle pursuit, with  Leavenworth Police becoming  involved around 7:30 Friday evening when notified by Platte County, Missouri authorities that they were pursuing a kidnapping suspect who was traveling with a child. 

The suspect vehicle crossed the Centennial Bridge into Leavenworth but was forced to stop when it ran into construction on Metropolitan Avenue, leaving the vehicle disabled. “The suspect got out and we had an exchange of gunfire,” Kitchens told MSC News. “The suspect was wounded at some point. The suspect, we believe, shot and killed the small child that was in the car. Our officers were able to shoot again and incapacitate him.”

Kitchens on Saturday said investigators can say for sure that the male suspect did point a weapon at officers, which has been confirmed through videotape. Kitchens says the suspect, whose identity he cannot confirm at this time, was transported to a Kansas City hospital where he is being treated for serious, but non-life threatening injuries. Meanwhile, Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson said the incident started just after 6:30 Friday evening when officers from his department responded to a disturbance call at a residence in the northwest part of the city.

Although not confirmed, speculation points to that residence as the sight of the child's abduction.  Wilson says officers, upon arrival, saw the suspect leaving the scene in a white Ford Escape and attempted to stop him. A chase ensued, with the suspect eventually crossing over the Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge into Missouri, where it continued into Platte County and ultimately ended tragically in Leavenworth. 

The relationship between the suspect and the child remains unspecified by authorities. 

Although police said Cadence was from Leavenworth, the Kansas City Star is reporting that members of the man’s family said the girl and her mother lived with the man and his grandparents in Atchison.