The Region - News from April 17, 1986

Manuel Rodriguez’s brand-new water gun looks just like a full-size M-16 rifle--which is why he found himself surrounded by 10 police officers in the alley behind his Los Angeles apartment house. A neighbor had seen him playing with the water gun and assumed that he was a sniper, aiming at cars on the nearby Harbor Freeway. The officers put their (very real) weapons away--and suggested that Manuel, 14, do likewise with his. “He said he’s not going to play with it anymore,” an officer said.