According to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, Black children are six times more likely to be shot by police than white children, and Hispanic children are three times more likely to be shot, reports CNN.

“The results are not surprising, but that doesn’t take away from the tragedy of these results,” lead researcher Dr. Monika K. Goyal told CNN. “When we see that this extends to children, it makes this issue even more tragic.”

From 2003 to 2018, the study found, 140 adolescents were killed by police.  In 131 of those cases, the child was shot, and 93% of the victims were male.  The data, however, are incomplete because of irregular reporting standards across states.  The study also did not look into the number of children who were shot but did not die. 

The study reinforces an overall trend in policing of officers using deadly force more against people of color than against whites.  It also reminds people of the homicide of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by a police officer while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland public park.

“We had a sufficient enough sample size to show that there were large differences, when we compared deaths of children due to police shootings between Black and White children and White to Hispanic children — we were appropriately powered,” Goyal noted. “We would have seen those same results over a larger time period.”