Police arrested and charged with murder over shooting death of six-year-old

Officers Norris Greenhouse Jr, 23 and Derrick Stafford were arrested and charged late on Friday

The six-year-old was shot and killed this week in Louisiana (Facebook)

Two police officers have been charged with the murder of an autistic child - the 17th child to be shot by US law enforcement this year.

Officers Norris Greenhouse Jr, 23 and Derrick Stafford were arrested and charged late on Friday with second-degree murder in the killing of six-year-old Jeremy Mardis on November 3 in the central Louisiana city of Marksville.

The officers were also charged with attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of the boy’s father, Christopher Few, who remains heavily sedated, with bullet fragments in his brain and lung, the child's stepfather, Morris German, told local news site Nola.com.

Two other city marshals involved in the chase have not yet been charged and an “investigation remains ongoing” into the circumstances that led to the car chase, a press release posted to the Louisiana State Police Facebook page late on Friday said.

Officers Norris Greenhouse and Derrick Stafford

State Police Col Mike Edmonson told local news channel WAFB that body camera footage of the shooting was “the most disturbing thing I’ve seen” and declined further comment on the shooting.

The child had been struck in the head and chest, Nola.com reported.

"That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle," Mr Edmonson as saying. "That is how he died."

The local Avoyelles Parish District Attorney's Office will likely hand the case to the state Attorney General for prosecution, according to reports.

More than 834 people have been shot and killed by US police officers this year. Mardis is the youngest of 17 children shot dead this year.

"Jeremy was a special gift from God. He was always smiling always happy. He was diagnosed with autism when he was 2,” said the boy's grandmother, Samantha Few. “He loved everyone he met and they loved him. As far as what caused his death, the only thing I have been told is he died from gun shot wounds.”