US woman shot after threatening son

Police thought Lovell was going to kill her son

Police in the United States have shot a prison escapee who had kidnapped her three-year-old son and was threatening to kill him after pointing a gun to his head.

Karen Lovell was shot during a stand-off with police following her escape from DeKalb County jail, in Tennessee, in a police patrol car and with an officer's gun.

After being shot in the head, she was taken to Chattanooga Hospital. Her condition was not known.

Her son Kadan, who was splattered with his mother's blood in the incident, was consoled by officers after the shooting. He was not injured.

Sister's dog shot

The drama began when Lovell escaped from prison on Thursday after faking a seizure.

She drove to the home of her sister, who has legal custody of her son, and kidnapped him at gunpoint.

Before leaving, she shot her sister's dog.

At a near police roadblock, she ran her car into a sheriff's deputy and shot at him through the windscreen.

Three-year-old Kadan was consoled by officers afterwards

A short time later, Lovell, 28, ditched the patrol car and disappeared on foot in dense woods not far from her sister's home.

She later came out of the woods. Television cameras captured images of a T-shirt-clad Lovell waving a gun, at times smiling, carrying the toddler.

DeKalb County Sheriff Lloyd Emmons said: "She actually put the gun to the baby's head and she said, 'I'm going to kill him'. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes."

'No choice'

Police Captain Mark Collins shot Lovell and caught the boy before his mother fell.

The police officer was later seen sobbing and being comforted by his fellow deputies.

"He had no choice in the matter. We all wish it hadn't ended this way, but she made the choice for us," Sheriff Emmons said.

According to the Associated Press, Lovell was in prison after pleading guilty in February to two counts of telephone harassment and one count of stalking a neighbour.

She was sentenced to nearly a year in jail.