Hancock County officials say they diverted what could have been a potentially deadly situation, when deputies discovered two handguns at a middle school on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Thursday.

Two students face felony charges of possessing firearms on school property after deputies found the handguns in a student’s backpack and in a school trash can when school resource officers at Bay-Waveland Middle School were responding to a false fire alarm at the school.

Local news sources say the deputies received information that one student had a gun. Upon receiving the information, deputies immediately secured the campus and detained the student. They found a handgun in the student’s backpack.

A second handgun, which deputies believe the detained student gave to a second student, was found in a trash can.

The first student detained faces an additional felony charge of providing a weapon to another individual on school property, the news release says.

Both juveniles, who will not be identified because of their ages, were taken to Hancock County Youth Court.

Sheriff Ricky Adam said in the release that deputies learned other students may have been aware of the weapons while on the bus ride to school but did not report a situation that had “a potential for disastrous outcomes.”

Parents were notified of the incident through the school’s call-out system.