N.Y. POLICE FIRE SHOTS AT BOY HOLDING WATER GUN

NEW YORK (AP) - A 16-year-old boy was shot by police who mistook his
squirt gun for a real weapon, with one of the officers firing all 16 rounds
in his gun.

Michael Jones was in critical condition Monday. He was shot early
Sunday after encountering police while he rode his bicycle. He was hit
six times in the legs.

Police were looking for the boy after an off-duty police officer
reported he was pointing a gun at people and cars.

Police said the boy refused to drop his toy, which looked like a
submachine gun. But Jermain Congress, who was riding his bike with
Jones, said Jones was dropping his pistol when he was shot.

Officer David Gross fired all 16 rounds from his semiautomatic 9mm
pistol at Jones. Sgt. Michael Jacobellis fired once.

Police Commissioner Howard Safir supported his officers.

"Certainly at 2:30 in the morning it would not be unreasonable to
believe this was a real weapon," Safir said, holding up Jones' water
pistol and a 9mm MP5 submachine gun.

It is illegal in the city to sell or possess a toy gun that looks real
or is painted black.

The number of shots fired outraged Jones' family. They were also
perplexed as to why he has been charged with menacing, criminal
possession of a weapon and possession of marijuana.

"Sixteen or 17 shots fired against a water pistol sounds more like
people at the O.K. Corral than policement trying to secure public
safety," the Rev. Al Sharpton, acting as the Jones family spokesman,
said Monday outside Kings County Hospital.

The officers involved were placed on desk duty while the case is
investigated, both internally by the police department and by a grand
jury.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry