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An elementary school student was caught with this handgun in Jefferson County on Thursday, April 18, 2014.

((Jefferson County Sheriff's Office))

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Alabama - A 7-year-old Jefferson County boy has been suspended after he was caught with a loaded gun at his elementary school.

The incident happened Thursday at Center Point Elementary. Earlier this week, an 8-year-old boy and several other students were suspended when an 8-year-old was found to have an airsoft gun on a Jefferson County school bus.

Jefferson County sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Christian said the student was showing the handgun to another student. The teacher saw it, and took the gun away from the student.

The principal and the sheriff's school resource officer were immediately notified. The investigation showed the gun belonged to the boy's grandfather. It wasn't immediately clear, authorities said, how the student got the gun.

The student was suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing with the Jefferson County Board of Education. Under Alabama law, Christian said, he is too young to face criminal charges.

On Tuesday, a county school bus was forced to turn around and head back to school after a boy was found to have an airsoft gun that police said looked "very, very real."

The bus had just pulled off from Irondale Community School, grades 3 through 5, on 16th Street South when one of the students alerted the bus driver that a student had a gun, said Irondale police Detective Michael Mangina. Once back at the school, all of the students were asked to get off of the bus. Police were called to the scene.

Officers and school officials found the 8-year-old had the airsoft gun in his backpack. It was not loaded.

After interviewing all of the students, Mangina said authorities learned the boy brought the gun to school to trade it with another student for a computer tablet. The orange tip of the gun, which indicates it is not a real gun, had been removed.

In all, four students were suspended: the boy with the airsoft gun, the student with the tablet and two others whose involvement wasn't immediately clear. The suspension, Mangina said, was a decision made by the Jefferson County Board of Education. They were set to face a school disciplinary today.

"We have seen some disturbing things involving our young people and firearms but to hear that a 7-year-old brought a loaded gun to school is hard to digest,'' Christian said. "This teacher took swift action and might have avoided a real tragedy here."

"We don't believe the 7-year-old had any ill intentions at all, just curiosity. In this case that could have been deadly,'' he said. "Time and time again we have begged people to make sure guns were secure and out of reach for children. We are asking that again today."