HAMMOND | Two men charged on Thursday with trying to break into a south side home told police they didn't think anyone was inside.

But an 11-year-old girl home from school with a cold was resting there in the 7400 block of Monroe Avenue, and heard them prying open a back window.

She called 911, and police arrested the men - one of whom was carrying a loaded handgun - before they were able to get in.

Thomas Robert Latham and Joshua Daniel Trentz, both 19-year-old Hammond residents, are facing felony charges in Lake Superior Court of attempted burglary, attempted residential entry and possession of a handgun with obliterated serial numbers.

The girl told detectives there was a knock on the door of her family's home around 7:20 a.m., and she peeked through a window and saw two men she'd never seen before, but they didn't see her.

She said she called her mother at work, who told her not to let anyone in.

Then she heard what she said sounded like sawing near the back door, and called 911.

Police arrived moments later, and reported seeing Trentz pushing up on a back window, while Latham pried at it with a hammer.

Both men were arrested, and admitted they were at the Monroe Avenue house to take things, according to the affidavit filed by prosecutors.

Latham was carrying a fully loaded .38 caliber revolver, police said, and explained to detectives that its serial number must have gotten scratched off while he carried it in his pocket.

Trentz told police he was a member of a Chicago street gang, according to the affidavit.

Both men said they thought nobody would be home, and didn't know there might be children in the house.

They each face 31 years in prison and $30,000 in fines if convicted on all charges and given the maximum sentences.