Sheriff’s deputies in San Antonio, Texas fatally shot a woman being pursued for multiple alleged crimes Friday night. As she was attempting to break into a home, a stray bullet from the officers struck and a killed a 6-year-old boy who was home early from holiday break.

“In my opinion it’s a tragic accident that led to the death of this young man,” Bexar County Sheriff Salazar said at a news conference. “We are looking into all of it. Internal Affairs is still investigating it. But again preliminarily it appears that policies and procedures (on use of force) were complied with.”

The woman, Amanda Jones, was also fatally shot in the incident. Deputies had seen the woman brandishing what they thought was a handgun earlier in night, but no gun was found at the shooting scene.

“At the time, we don’t believe she was armed. She was presenting to be armed at various times throughout this prolonged pursuit,” Salazar said earlier.

Oh my God. Police just shot & killed a 6 year old boy. They claimed the woman they were shooting at had a gun, but it appears she was unarmed too. No gun was found on the scene. She's also dead. She didn't even know the boy who was killed. https://t.co/9W0kFYAf9U — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) December 23, 2017

“That deputy is still adamant that what he saw was a handgun,” Salazar said.

The Sheriff added while there is good audio of the shooting, there is no clear video. A helicopter overhead was on scene after the shooting, and the body camera on the deputy who fired was unintentionally obstructed when he raised and fired his rifle.

The 6-year-old boy, Kameron Prescott, is the youngest person killed by American police in 2017.

“Kameron was the kindest-hearted little boy that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching,” the boy’s first-grade teacher, Shanda Ince, said in a statement released by the school district


There a few similar incidents involving law enforcement in the San Antonio area. There has been a steady uptick in the use of force shown by officers over the past few years. This includes an incident in May where a San Antonio city officer struck a 14-year-old black girl after police were called about a disturbance at a birthday party, the officer claimed his action was an attempt to “de-escalate” the situation. When the San Antonio police department’s union contract was up for re-negotiation in 2016, the department was willing to accept accountability for their mess-ups, but only in exchange for higher pay.