OXFORD – Melting snow at Oxford Elementary School this week revealed an item nobody wants to see near a playground: a handgun that had been buried in a snowbank weeks ago.

A 9-year-old boy was sent home from school after he admitted to police that he had brought the 9 mm gun to school to show off.

Investigators say the gun was unloaded and that the boy had taken it from a truck owned by a relative. Police said the boy panicked before showing the gun to anybody.

“He was going to show his friends, but he got scared,” said Oxford police Chief Jon Tibbetts. “He threw it into a snowbank on the playground.”

Rain and warm temperatures in recent days caused much of the snow near the school to melt. Another student there on Monday spotted the gun on the ground. That student turned over the weapon, and Principal Alan Struck contacted police.

Tibbetts said his investigators quickly zeroed in on the 9-year-old boy as the child who had carried the gun to school. When asked about it, he confessed, Tibbetts said.

SAD 17 Superintendent Mike Eastman said school officials began hearing a rumor three weeks ago that a child had brought a gun to school. They investigated, but no evidence of it emerged.

When the 9 mm was found on Monday, it took police and school officials roughly an hour to identify the boy who had put it there.

No charges are expected against the child, who will be referred to a juvenile intake worker for possible counseling.

“At 9 years old, there’s no criminal intent,” Tibbetts said.

Eastman said the boy is being punished in accordance with school policy, but law prevented him from discussing the details of that punishment.

“I can tell you that consequences are part of our protocol,” Eastman said.

School officials sent letters home to parents to alert them to what had happened. Eastman said that is part of their policy of keeping parents informed and hopefully, preventing the spread of false information.

While investigating the matter, Tibbetts said his department also worked to dispel rumors that have been circulating about the event. He re-emphasized that the gun was not loaded when it was brought to the school, or when it was found.

“It could have been a lot worse,” the chief said.

Eastman was mindful of that fact, as well.

“I would tell gun owners to secure your weapons,” he said. “Make sure they are locked up so that no child can get at them.”