Boy killed, two others injured after car shot at in Kansas City

Investigation shows that the vehicle was stopped in front of a home when someone fired numerous shots into the vehicle from outside, striking three people.

A boy under the age of 5 died and two adults were injured when someone opened fire on their vehicle on Monday afternoon, Kansas City police said.

After the shooting that was reported just before 3pm, the driver of the car pulled up to a local fire station to ask for help, according to authorities.

Fire and EMS personnel tended to the unidentified man, woman and child, police said, adding that they were taken to a hospital where the boy later died.

The preliminary investigation shows that the vehicle was stopped in front of a home when someone fired numerous shots into the vehicle from outside, striking three people, according to authorities.

A police spokesman on the scene said there was another adult in car who was not struck by gunfire.

In a tweet, the city's police department said they were "stunned at this callousness and violence" and that they would not rest until finding out who was responsible for the shooting.

The child's death is the 148th homicide this year in Kansas City. At this time last year, 114 homicides had been recorded.

"My heart breaks again," said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who was also present at the scene.

Both the mayor and police officials asked for anyone with any information on the shooting to contact detectives.

"We need your leads, we need to make sure this stops," Lucas added.

"One way we make sure it stops is that those who do these sorts of things are held accountable. Because when you look at the shot up vehicle, you recognise that these are people that had no regard for the life of anybody."

- AP