RIO DE JANEIRO — A 5-year-old girl who died Wednesday morning in Rio de Janeiro was the sixth child in the city slain this year after being struck by a stray bullet.

Ketellen Umbelino de Oliveira Gomes was walking to school with her mother on Tuesday when she was shot in the leg in the Realengo district of western Rio de Janeiro, according to police officials and witnesses.

Investigators believe she was caught in the crossfire of one of the gun battles waged routinely in the city by drug trafficking gangs vying for control of neighborhoods.

As her mother rushed her to a nearby clinic, Ketellen reportedly tried to comfort her.

“Even as she lay on the floor, she said: ‘Mom, don’t cry, don’t, Mom,’” a relative, Daise da Costa, told reporters.