Schools Tighten Security After Holdup of Teacher by 2 Pre-Teen Boys : Crime: Youngsters with gun rob victim in her Baldwin Park classroom, where she was grading papers over the weekend. She says they were as young as 10 and 8.

After-hours work has been banned at Baldwin Park schools after a boy, possibly as young as 10, and his even younger accomplice robbed a teacher at gunpoint in her classroom last weekend, police said Friday.

“Don’t move . . . or I’ll kill you,” the older boy, who was carrying a semiautomatic pistol, told the teacher, according to police.

Officers said the young robbers made off with $7 from the teacher’s purse and $2 from a classroom cash box. The boys considered stealing the teacher’s car but dropped the idea when they could not find the keys in her purse, investigators said.

“Our normal suspect isn’t 8 to 10 or 11 years old, so this one is going to take some work,” Baldwin Park Police Lt. Daniel Higginbotham said.

The robbery occurred at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Jones Junior High School on Merced Avenue, said Baldwin Park School Police Capt. Rudy Martinez.

He said the 24-year-old teacher, whose name has not been released, was working alone in her classroom, grading papers, when she saw the boy stick his head and a handgun through an open window.

After threatening to kill her, the boy, whom she described as 10 to 12 years old, blond and wearing a T-shirt and jeans, ordered her to unlock the classroom door, Martinez said. The teacher said the boy with the gun then entered the room along with a second boy, about 8 to 10 years old.

“Where’s the money?” the older boy demanded.

The teacher said that after taking the money and searching in vain for the car keys, the boys left with a final threat: “Don’t call the police, or else we’ll be back.”

After waiting a few minutes, the teacher ran out of the classroom and reported the robbery to a school police officer parked in front of the school. The officer had been away on another call when the robbery occurred, Martinez said.

“People were allowed to come in on weekends and holidays to catch up on work and do bulletin boards,” he said. “It was never discouraged because there’s never been a problem in the past. But with society and the community becoming more violent, we need to take extra precautions.”

The principal of the school, Marcus Beasley, could not be reached for comment, but a school secretary said.