Louisiana Police Kill 6-Year-Old While Firing At Fleeing Vehicle

The Louisiana Bureau of Investigations announced this week that an investigation had been opened after law enforcement officers killed a 6-year-old boy who was in the passenger seat of a fleeing car.

Officers said that after the suspect’s SUV backed into one of their vehicles, the marshals got out of their patrol cars and began to fire through the driver’s window.

A 6-year-old boy who was sitting in the passenger seat was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy’s father was listed in stable condition after being air-lifted to an Alexandria hospital.

Avoyelles Parish coroner Dr. L. J. Mayeux identified the driver as Chris Few and his son as Jeremy Mardis, a first-grader at a nearby elementary school.

Mayeux says city marshals were chasing Few after he fled on Martin Luther King Drive in Marksville at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday night in an attempt to serve a warrant.

The coroner says Few reached a dead end and was backing into the marshals when they fired. The coroner says the boy was "caught in the line of fire" and was killed.

The boy, who was identified as Jeremy David Mardis, was attending first grade at Lafargue Elementary.

State police opened an investigation at the request of the Marksville Police Department, where the Ward 2 marshals were stationed.

Marksville Police Chief Elster Smith said that the officers could be placed on leave until the investigation was concluded.

It was not immediately clear if the driver was armed.