Two police officers will be charged with second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder after more than a dozen shots were fired into a car, leaving a six-year-old boy dead and his father critically wounded.

Norris Greenhouse jnr, 23, and Derrick Stafford, 32, were arrested on Friday night after state police say they fired 18 shots at the car in which Christopher Few and his son, Jeremy Mardis, were riding in the southern state of Louisiana on Tuesday, Mike Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police said during a news conference.

"Jeremy didn't deserve to die like this," Edmonson said, adding that the shooting has tarnished the badge of law enforcement officers. "That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle, and that is how he died."