In a cramped Bushwick apartment, with a domestic dispute unfolding, Housing Police Officer Hector Rivera heard the click behind his head and was sure a 9-millimeter gun had been cocked. He spun, his right hand reaching for his holster. What he saw was a child emerging from a bedroom with a toy gun.
"Toy guns can even sound like real guns, " Officer Rivera said.
No one was hurt that day last year, unlike Tuesday night when a 13- year-old boy carrying a toy rifle was shot and killed by a housing police officer who apparently thought he saw a real gun. The episode, and the wounding of another Brooklyn teenager who police said was carrying a toy pistol, were among the most dramatic recent tolls exacted by the problem of toy guns that not only look real but often are used to commit real crimes in a violent city.
And yesterday Officer Rivera was at City Hall to receive a Police Combat Cross for another incident, his actions during a rooftop gunfight in Brooklyn. He was one of 90 housing officers honored for bravery.
"You and your performances are what it means to be a housing officer day in and day out," said Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. "The exceptions are the police officers who act improperly. You are the rule."
There was no medal yesterday for Officer Brian George, no formal mention of him by any senior officers or politicians, but his presence was felt everywhere. According to his colleagues and superiors, Officer George, who on Tuesday night shot and killed Nicholas Heyward Jr., was at home -- devastated.
"I feel terribly for him," said Officer Rivera, who received his cross for his firefight with a man who had used a real rifle on a Brooklyn housing project rooftop.
"His life is ruined," said Deputy Inspector Anthony Jones.
Later Tuesday night, another Brooklyn youth, Jamiel Johnson, 16, was shot by a plainclothes New York City police officer after the police said he took a replica 9-millimeter gun from his waistband. He was listed in stable condition last night at Kings County Hospital Center, said a Brooklyn law-enforcement official.
Statistics provided by the New York Police Department show five occasions in the last year when an officer fired his gun in an incident where the perceived threat was a person armed only with a toy weapon. In February, a man in Queens was shot by a police officer who believed the man's toy gun was real. And in 1992, an off-duty transit officer shot and killed an assailant who brandished a toy weapon.
Toy guns can appear so real that they are used in hundreds of actual crimes. In 1993, Police Department records list 329 reports of toy guns used in felonies. So far in 1994, there have been 205 reports. In November, six youths armed with a toy gun raped a woman in a Brooklyn housing project.
During the 1993-94 school year, 284 schoolchildren were found with air guns or toy guns inside city schools. Speaking before the City Council yesterday, Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines advocated a complete ban on the sale of toy guns. It is a violation of the city's administrative code to sell or have an imitation or toy pistol colored black, blue or silver. Violation is punishable by a year in prison.
"They are out there, everywhere," said Housing Officer Ricky Bradford, who was awarded a Combat Cross yesterday for his gunfight in August 1993. "I talk to the kids about it, the risks. But the kids don't listen to police. They shrug it off."
None of the 90 officers gathered at the City Hall ceremony could shrug off what had taken place on the landing of 423 Baltic Street in Brooklyn, and many of them called the shooting an officer's worst nightmare. Officer George, who had responded to two reports of shots fired in the previous half hour, had headed for the roof after seeing four youths on top of 423 Baltic.
He shot Nicholas Heyward Jr. once through the abdomen as the eighth-grader made his way down the staircase about 7:30 P.M. Officer George was taken from the scene in tears.
A wake will be held for Nicholas today from 6 to 9 P.M. at House of the Lord Church, 415 Atlantic Avenue; the funeral will be at 10 A.M. Saturday at the church.
According to Inspector Jones, Officer George, who lives in Brooklyn, graduated in the top third of his class in the academy and had been enthusiastic about going to work for Police Service Area 3. He had no record of a single civilian complaint filed against him, the inspector said.
Differing views of Officer George were given recently by Gowanus Houses residents; some called him an involved, concerned presence, and others charged that he was paranoid and often walked the hallways with his gun drawn.
Mitzy Andino, head of the Gowanus Houses tenant association, said Officer George was regarded as conscientious and approachable.
"I spoke to Officer George's mother," said Inspector Jones. "As a parent, you want to take the pain for your child. But his life is ruined. She can't help her child, either."
