Venezuelan prosecutors said on Tuesday they will indict a policeman who was allegedly responsible in the fatally shooting of a woman during looting in the crisis-hit OPEC nation.

 

Hotel worker Jenny Ortiz, 42, died in a hospital on Monday after being shot during looting of state food warehouses the previous evening in San Cristobal, a city near the Colombian border. Ortiz was shot by a policeman, according to her relatives who said they saw the incident.

 

The prosecutor's statement said Ortiz died on Monday in San Cristobal after being shot in the face and head. A 13-year-old was also injured in the incident.

 

Looting, lynchings and violent protests have been on the rise this year as Venezuela's economic crisis has deepened. The country of around 30 million people suffers from shortages of food and medicine as well as the world's highest rate of inflation.

 

President Nicolas Maduro says his country is victim of an "economic war" led by political adversaries with the support of Washington.