Exclusive: Hollywood Police Arrest Man With Loaded Weapon Outside Attucks Middle School

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Hollywood police arrested a man with a loaded weapon outside Attucks Middle School early Thursday morning.

Officer Rolando Cabezas and his two partners came across a suspicious group of guys sitting outside the school.

"As I hit the sidewalk, he stood up. When he stood up my partner flashed a light on him. You could see the imprint of what appeared to be a firearm on his chest," said Cabezas.

Their suspicions turned out to be correct. It was a gun and it was fully loaded.

"It was a 9 mm, semi-automatic. There was a magazine inserted with a round in the chamber, with an additional maginze that was fully loaded o his person as well," Cabezas said.

The man, identified as Shackus Davis, was placed under arrest.

Davis has been arrested many times before. What made this time different is that he was just steps from a school and kids were already showing up for class.

"The bus bench actually touches the fence line of the school property. So our main concern is the safety of the children. At that time there were several children walking to school with backpacks. Always the main concern is for their safety," said officer Matthew Fregin.

Now police are looking to see if Davis may be involved in other crimes. They already determined the gun he was carrying had been stolen a few days ago.

"The firearm he was caught with was reported stolen from a burglary in the city. We'll look in to see if he actually committed that burglary, or if he purchased from someone else," said Hollywood Police Major Jeff Devlin.

The officers involved in this takedown are called Neighborhood Team Leaders.

They're assigned to this area specifically to address neighborhood problems. They can change their hours and days of work as needed. That's why they were on duty early in the morning.

Last month, there was a shooting in the same area that put the school on lockdown and brought out the SWAT team.

"There's been a recent uptick of violent crimes in the area, there's also been a significant amount of complaints about narcotic sales in and around that specific area adjacent to the school," Cabezas said.

Davis is being held at Broward's main jail. He's facing a grand theft of a firearm charge, along with carrying a concealed firearm and 24 counts possession of ammo by a convicted felon.

Attucks Middle School is located in the 3500 block of North 22nd Avenue.