The guns came from his uncle's house. One tumbled from the boy's pocket and onto the classroom floor. The other, police said, was found in his locker after a teacher took the child to the principal's office.
The boy is 7 years old and in first grade at Randallstown Elementary School.
He was suspended and faces possible expulsion. But police said he will not be charged with any crime, because there is no reason to believe he intended to use the weapons - even though both were loaded, with bullets in the chamber, ready to fire.
"It's a toy to him," said Cpl. Michael Hill, a Baltimore County police spokesman. "This is a first-grader, a 7-year-old. He doesn't know the repercussions of this or anything."
Randallstown Elementary Principal Marcel I. Hall informed parents of the discovery in an automated phone message to their homes Monday afternoon.
"I assured them that it was an isolated incident, that the weapons were confiscated by police and that there was no threat to our school," Hall said yesterday. "Some parents had gotten the message and still wanted to talk to me. I've been the principal here for 12 years. They trust me and just wanted to hear my voice."
She said most of the school's 405 children had no idea that anything unusual had happened.
Police said the youngster told investigators that he found the weapons during a spring break visit to his uncle's house in Baltimore last week and had no intention of using them at school.
Hall said a teacher brought the child to her office about 9:20 a.m. Monday, shortly after the morning announcements.
Officers who went to the school retrieved the gun that fell out in the classroom - a 9 mm Kahr pistol. They searched the boy's locker and found a .40-caliber Glock handgun.
"They were in his book bag and he completely forgot about them. He didn't realize it until he got to school," Hill said yesterday. "He thought they were toys anyway. He put one in his pocket and went to class."
Baltimore County police said the boy - who lives with his mother - was sent home from school with her after being questioned Monday.
Parents picking up their children at the school on Liberty Road yesterday afternoon expressed concern that a child so young would have access to deadly weapons but were glad that police and school administrators handled the matter as quickly as they did.
