Police: Teen arrested with guns at Jax Beach Catholic school was watching children on playground

Jacksonville, FL — The arrest report for a Jacksonville teen accused of having two guns and a ski mask on the campus of St. Paul's Catholic School in Jacksonville Beach, is detailing the behavior that led an officer to first approach him.

The officer involved saw the 16-year-old walking by the early learning center and family life center on the campus, while looking at the children, trying to see in windows, and and checking all around him. The teen was dressed in all black, including a jacket and skull cap, and he was very fidgety, according to police.

The arrest report says the officer then started asking the suspect several questions, including why he was on the school property, and the teen repeated the questions and gave “hesitant answers”, which the officer believed were not truthful. The suspect allegedly gave the officer a fake name, and the officer was suspicious of that because he gave a name that he then spelled in a way that didn’t match what he said.

Because of the conduct and apparently evasive answers, the officer decided to pat him down. The arrest report says he found two guns in two separate jacket pockets. One of those guns was loaded with four live rounds and the other was not loaded, but the teen also had an eight-round magazine, according to the report. The guns did not register as stolen.

What is still not addressed in the arrest report is any idea of the motive of this teen suspect.

The 16-year-old has been arrested for two counts of having a gun on school grounds, one count of possession of a weapon or ammo by a delinquent, and one count of giving a false name or ID to police. The arrest report says the suspect has several prior felony arrests, but those were dropped to misdemeanor offenses. He had also been adjudicated delinquent four times, according to police.