MEXICO CITY, Nov 7 — Mexican police shot dead a seven-year-old American girl when they opened fire on her family’s vehicle from a helicopter during a drug enforcement operation, the state prosecutor confirmed Friday.

Police captured a local criminal in Matamoros, which borders Brownsville, Texas, on October 29, triggering a series of street blockades by gunmen in the area.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office said Friday that Aranza, a seven-year-old who was born in the United States, was hit in the head by police gunfire.

The girl’s mother told Mexican media she was traveling with five children and her husband in a pickup truck when they noticed a police helicopter was following them.