A suspected kidnapping on the Belt Parkway ended in gunfire Saturday night after police said the driver of a white cargo van refused to stop, crashed through a roadblock, and struck multiple police and civilian vehicles during a chaotic pursuit, as reported by The New York Post.

The incident began after officers received an alert about a possible abduction involving a small child. According to sources, witnesses reported hearing a child screaming from the back of a cargo van bearing New Jersey license plates.

Officers located the vehicle near Exit 8 and attempted to pull it over. The driver did not comply and instead sped eastbound on the Belt Parkway at about 7:30 p.m., turning the reported abduction into a highway chase.

As the van continued eastbound, an officer moved ahead of traffic and established a police roadblock. The maneuver did not stop the driver, who allegedly rammed police vehicles and civilian vehicles while attempting to continue along the highway.

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The crashes left several damaged vehicles scattered across the roadway. The wreckage visible at the scene included cars that authorities believed had been struck by the white van during the pursuit and confrontation.

BREAKING: NYPD officers smashed the windows of a kidnapping suspect’s van before fatally shooting him on Brooklyn’s Belt Parkway.

Police say the driver rammed cruisers and civilian vehicles while a woman screamed for help inside. https://t.co/0RYJ4pwLz6 — Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) November 15, 2026

Police then surrounded the van and smashed its windows while trying to bring the driver under control. Officers also used a Taser on the suspect, but sources said that effort failed to stop him.

When the Taser proved ineffective and the driver still did not stop, officers opened fire. The suspect was struck by police gunfire inside the van and was fatally wounded during the confrontation on the Belt Parkway.

Sources described the suspect as a Black male in his 30s. His name had not been released following the shooting, leaving his identity undisclosed as authorities continued examining the chain of events surrounding the pursuit.

The wounded suspect was transported to NYU Langone in Brooklyn after the shooting. He was pronounced dead at around 8 p.m., roughly 30 minutes after the eastbound pursuit began near Exit 8.

Despite the original alert about a screaming child and a possible kidnapping, sources said officers did not find a child inside the cargo van. That discovery left the reported abduction unconfirmed based on the contents of the vehicle.

The confrontation and resulting investigation created a massive traffic jam on the Belt Parkway. Authorities closed both lanes while officers worked at the scene, examined the damaged vehicles and continued investigating the fatal police shooting.

Drivers whose vehicles were apparently struck by the suspect’s van remained part of the investigation. Police later questioned those drivers as witnesses, gathering their accounts of the pursuit, the collisions and the confrontation at the roadblock.

The sprawling scene reflected the intensity of the incident, with the white van stopped after gunfire and multiple damaged cars positioned along the roadway. Police and civilian vehicles had allegedly been rammed before officers used the Taser and then fired at the suspect.

The episode unfolded rapidly, beginning with the report of a child screaming in a van and ending with the suspect pronounced dead at a Brooklyn hospital. In between came a failed traffic stop, an eastbound chase, a breached roadblock, multiple crashes, and a fatal police response.

Authorities continued investigating after shutting down the highway lanes and questioning witnesses. The suspect remained publicly unidentified, and the detail that initially triggered the police response, the report of a small child inside the van, was not confirmed when officers searched the vehicle.