A 10-year-old was taken into police custody Monday afternoon after he was able to get a hold of a gun that he later fired at police in the Beverly neighborhood on the Far South Side.
Shortly after 11 a.m., officers were called to a home in the 9800 block of South Charles Street after a 10-year-old boy was reported to be “in distress,” according to Chicago police Deputy Chief Migdalia Bulnes.
The child, Bulnes said, was “able to obtain an unsecured weapon in the home” before firing the weapon several times, Bulnes said.
Officers from the Morgan Park District and a SWAT team responded and the child fired the gun at them too, Bulnes added.
“SWAT officers made contact with him and were able to start some kind of dialogue,” she said.
Responding officers fired bean-bag rounds at the home but did not strike the child, Bulnes said. The boy went back inside, before coming outside and aiming the weapon at himself.
Officers then launched a single pepper spray projectile at the home, and the child dropped the gun before he was taken into custody, Bulnes said.
The child was taken to an area hospital for observation and no injuries were reported.