UPDATE: 7-year-old boy dies after being hit by car in Mishawaka

A 7-year-old Mishawaka boy was hit by a car Friday night and later was pronounced dead at the hospital.

It happened around 5:34 P.M. in an alleyway in between 6th and 7th streets off of Taylor road.

Neighbors say the alleys are the safest place for children to ride their bikes up and down the road because there's just not as much traffic. But that doesn't mean that there aren't drivers. And they may or may not be paying attention.

As with the case Friday night, two siblings, a boy and a girl, were playing in their duplex's driveway, which attaches to the alley. That's when their neighbor in the other side of the duplex pulled into the driveway and hit one of the kids.

"I was scared," neighbor Katey Brumer said. "I came home and seen those cop cars, the ambulance had just taken off. I didn't know whose kid it was or how it happened or what happened."

Investigators say the kids were sitting down while playing, so even if the driver was looking out, they might not have been seen.

"Pretty much," FACT Captain Tim Spencer said. "Oh, she clearly didn't see them."

The 7-year-old boy was hit and taken to the hospital, and police announced just before 10:20 p.m. that the child had died.

They say a 22-year-old woman driving an SUV was making her way down the alley when she hit and ran over the boy, according to a release issued by the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office Friday night.

Neighbors say kids almost getting hit is less rare than they'd like.

"It happens," Brumer said. "I know like with the other little boy earlier this month- er, last month, it was an accident. He rode out into the street, wasn't paying attention. Luckily, she was. So you've got your good and your bad."

Police and neighbors are just asking everybody who's out there to slow down and pay attention, especially when you're around houses, because you never know what could be around the corner.