Boy, 10, fatally shoots himself after he was sent to his room by mother before school

A 10-year-old boy is believed to have fatally shot himself after his mother sent him to his room when they argued before school. Ian Sevostjanov shot himself at the family home in Clearwater, Florida, on Thursday 5 January.

Although police are still investigating the shooting, officer's say the boy's mother, Olga Grusetskaja, had sent him to his room for a 'behavioural issue' after they had an argument in the morning before he was due to go to school at around 8.30am.

He was told to go to another room at the property where he is believed to have found a handgun and fatally shot himself with a single bullet. Paramedics were called, but he tragically died at the scene.

"It's a tragedy in all respects," Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter said at a news conference according to CBS News. "It's a difficult thing. The family is in distress. They were overcome with grief."

"There are things we have to evaluate even if it is an accident," Slaughter said. "Just because an incident is an accident, that doesn't mean [there are] not other things that have to be reviewed from a culpable negligence standpoint. There are rules and laws we have to evaluate."

Detectives have ruled the case a suicide and will now try to establish how the fifth grade pupil at Belleair Elementary School got hold of a handgun. Clearwater police spokesman Rob Shaw said detectives had interviewed family members to find out how the firearm was stored exactly.

It has been reported that the boy's father and brother were not home at the time of the shooting.

Neighbours of the family told Fox13 that Sevostjanov was a happy child who regularly seen playing with other children. "He's very intelligent, smart, cordial and just a happy kid," Lesley Sarchione said.

"He played with all the other kids. They used to play soccer right in front of my apartment every night. I can't imagine how it's going to be for the other kids when they find out."