A Georgia sex offender was shot and killed early Friday morning by law enforcement just off Interstate 75 in Tennessee after he kidnapped an 11-year-old girl in Knoxville.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Endangered Child Alert Thursday evening, saying the girl was last seen on Tuesday. The agency later identified the suspect as Edward Ahrens, 38, from Catoosa County, Georgia, WTVC reported.

Just after 1:30 a.m. on Friday, TBI said that the girl had been found safe.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office explained that the investigators had concentrated their search near the Tennessee-Georgia state line late Thursday night and eventually located him on I-75 south near the East Ridge exit, still in Tennessee just before crossing into Georgia.

Police initiated a pursuit, chasing Ahrens onto the exit ramp. They surrounded him at the intersection of US 41 and Ringgold Road.

CORRECTION: The location in which Aubriauna Mays was located is just before the Georgia state line in Hamilton County. pic.twitter.com/tSnyvoDOs0

— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) February 2, 2024

“An encounter ensued, during which preliminary information indicates Ahrens refused to comply with officer commands to surrender and attempted to hit law enforcement officers with his vehicle,” TBI said. “As a result, at least four officers fired their weapons into the vehicle, striking Ahrens, who subsequently died. The child and responding law enforcement officers did not sustain injury in the incident.”

TBI said that three Knox County detectives and a Catoosa County deputy opened fire. All four are on administrative leave for the investigation.

Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said the incident was a case of a “young child being lured by a sexual predator through social media that could have ended a young girl’s life.”

Catoosa County officials said that Ahrens initially pleaded guilty in 2003 to sexual exploitation of children, aggravated assault, and obstruction of justice and was sentenced to 10 years probation. In 2008, he was convicted on nine counts of sexual exploitation of children and sentenced to 20 years in prison but served only 10 years before his release. He was required to register as a sex offender.

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[Featured image: Edward Ahrens/Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office]