Chicago, Jul 25 (AP) A 10-year-old boy fired a shot at Chicago police officers during a standoff with officers called to the scene after the youth opened fire inside a home, police said.

No one was injured in Monday's shooting and the boy was taken to a hospital for observation, police said.

Also Read | Russian Fighter Jet Fired Flares at US Drone Over Syria and Damaged It, Says US Military (Watch Video).

Officers responded to a home in Chicago's Beverly neighbourhood about 11:20 am after learning the boy had fired shots inside the residence and was experiencing “mental distress”, police said in a statement.

Chicago Police Deputy Chief Migdalia Bulnes told reporters at the scene that the boy stepped out onto a porch, pointed a gun at the officers and at his own head before he fired a single gunshot, sending officers ducking for cover.

Also Read | Kidney Trafficking in Indonesia: Indonesian Police Crack Down on Traffickers Who Sent 122 People to Sell Their Kidneys in Cambodia.

Bulnes said officers tried to de-escalate the situation by firing bean bag rounds at the home without striking the boy, but “it was too quick for them to bring a negotiator out". She said the boy went back inside the house before returning to the porch and pointing the gun at his head again.

Officers then fired a chemical at the porch, scaring the boy, who threw the gun down and was detained without incident and taken to a hospital for observation, Bulnes said.

She said that for officers the incident "really puts your training into perspective”.

“It's a little bit more delicate because he's 10 years old, and he's in distress. And we know that. He's a child, so that's what's in our mind when we have discussions of what's the next step," Bulnes said.

The boy's grandfather, Thurston Daniels, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the youngster had lashed out when his mother asked him to clean up around the house and he grabbed a gun from her purse. He said his grandson had previously thrown tantrums, but nothing that rose to the level of Monday's shooting.

“He's just a typical bad boy,” Daniels said. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)