A young mother is dead after being stabbed outside a unit in Queensland in what senior officers described as a “horrific scene” on a public footpath.

The woman in her 20s was found with stab wounds after emergency services were called to the home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, on Wednesday night.

“Police were called to a unit in Caboolture to a scuffle, a woman screaming,” Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said on Thursday.

“Sadly, when the police turned up a woman had been stabbed.

“She was taken immediately to the hospital and sadly has passed away.”

Queensland Police began tracking a car travelling to the Sunshine Coast that later crashed into a police vehicle on the Bruce Highway.

The driver, a 29-year-old Morayfield man, was arrested and taken into custody.

It will be alleged the man and woman were known to each other in a domestic violence-related investigation.

“An absolute tragedy – a horrific scene, a horrific scene, not only for police but for neighbours,” Ms Carroll said.

“They have witnessed what has taken place. It is on the footpath in front of their house, their units, and it is very, very difficult for police to deal with, let alone members of the public.”

The woman’s death is being treated as a homicide.

– AAP