A file photo shows a crime scene blocked off by the Chicago Police Department. (WTTW News)

After an argument turned physical early Sunday morning, prosecutors say a Chicago man retrieved a rifle and fatally shot his brother inside a West Pullman neighborhood home.

Daron Hardy, 25, was denied bail during a court hearing Monday afternoon following his arrest on a charge of first-degree murder stemming from the killing of his brother, 26-year-old Darnell Hardy.

Chicago police said the shooting occurred around 3:50 a.m. Sunday inside the younger Hardy’s home in the 12000 block of South Princeton Avenue.

According to Cook County prosecutors, a witness drove Daron Hardy to the home that morning following a night out at the bars. Those two then began hanging out with Darnell Hardy until an argument between the brothers broke out.

That argument “escalated,” prosecutors said, and the two men began hitting each other before Daron Hardy fell down and his brother got on top of him to continue punching him. Darnell Hardy then got up and walked into another room and closed the door behind him.

Daron Hardy then also walked away, but returned a few seconds later carrying a black rifle, according to prosecutors. One witness tried to calm him down, but he allegedly fired one shot through the closed door into the room where his brother had gone.

Prosecutors said Daron Hardy then kicked that door open and went into the other room, pushing aside the witness and walking up to his brother, whom he then shot once in the chest. Darnell Hardy was unarmed when he was shot, and was later pronounced dead at the scene, according to prosecutors.

Both Daron Hardy and another witness on scene called 911 after the shooting, and when officers arrived, Hardy was allegedly captured on body camera video saying that he did not mean to kill his brother. After he was taken to a police station, prosecutors said Hardy stated that he fired “randomly” and did not think he was going to kill anyone.

The public defender noted that there may have been a self-defense element to the case due to the previous fight before the shooting, though prosecutors noted Darnell Hardy had tried to de-escalate the situation by walking away.

Hardy is due back in court for a hearing Thursday.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431