Texas Police Kill 6-Year-Old Boy in Hunt for Car Thief

A six-year-old boy has been killed by a stray bullet in the Texas city of San Antonio during a police hunt for a woman accused of car theft, who was also fatally shot, U.S. media reported Friday.

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Kameron Prescott was shot in the torso while he was inside a trailer in which the woman was hiding. Police had opened fire on the suspect while she was on the trailer's porch, but one bullet pierced the trailer wall and struck the young boy.

"In my opinion it's a tragic accident that led to the death of this young man," local Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference Friday. "We are looking into all of it. Internal Affairs is still investigating it, but again preliminarily it appears that policies and procedures were complied with."

The boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Salazar said the suspect, who was unarmed, had no apparent connection to the boy or his family. Prescott is believed to be the youngest person killed by U.S. police so far this year. 

Over the past few years, police in the United States have come under increased scrutiny following accusations of brutality and the use of excessive force after several high-profile cases in which fficers shot and killed mostly unarmed Black people and non-whites.

The cases have angered many in Black communities, kicked off protests across the country and prompted the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement which calls for an end to police racism and extensive reforms within law enforcement agencies in the United States.