An 8-year-old boy died after being shot with a “high powered” air rifle, Arizona officials said.

Deputies with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office responded to St. David where they found the little boy had been shot in the “center of his chest,” according to a Dec. 19 post on Facebook by the department.

The air gun that shot the boy used .22-caliber pellets, deputies said.

A highway in the area was closed off to be used as a landing zone for a medical helicopter, but instead the boy was driven to a local hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

He later died at the hospital, deputies said.

They didn’t specify what led to the shooting but said the investigation is ongoing, the release said.

St. David is about 170 miles southeast of Phoenix.

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