As of Thursday morning, at least 834 people had been shot and killed by American police officers so far this year, the Washington Post reports.
Six-year-old Jeremy David Mardis is the youngest among them.
The autistic first-grader was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car being driven by his father, Chris Few, in Marksville, La., when city marshals attempted to serve the man a warrant about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night. Few fled, eventually turning down a dead-end street.
Police say Few then attempted to back his vehicle out, striking officers’ cruisers, prompting a hail of gunfire that left him hospitalized.
An official briefed on the shooting said that Few was unarmed when two officers opened fire, shooting between 13 and 18 bullets combined. That official said it is unclear if the shooting was captured on camera.
“Days like these I wish I was a plumber,” said L. J. Mayeux, the Avoyelles Parish coroner. “These last two days have been bad, and it’s getting worse.”
Five of the officers’ bullets pierced Jeremy’s body, Mayeux said, with the two fatal shots hitting him in the head and chest.
