The 22-year-old who was shot and killed after he pointed a toy gun at a police officer had drunkenly attempted to steal cough medicine from a pharmacy hours before the fatal confrontation. "He reeked of alcohol," said 33-year-old pharmacist Maya Basin, who claims she forced George D'Amato Jr. out of the Nostrand Houses Pharmacy after he tried to steal Coricidin. "I could tell something was off right away ... He was out of it."
After getting kicked out of the store, D'Amato—who had taken a day off of work from Duane Reade to enjoy the good weather—wandered around Sheepshead Bay and menaced people with the toy gun, the Daily News reports. According to the Post, onlookers repeatedly warned D'Amato that the pellet gun looked like an actual firearm. A Housing Authority employee allegedly told the man: "Stop playing, police will think it's real." D'Amato responded: "It is real."
The worker tipped off a supervisor who in turn alerted authorities that a man was "acting like Rambo" outside the Nostrand Houses—the first of three 911 calls police received warning them of an armed suspect. Later in the day, D'Amato reportedly threatened a man who was walking near P.S. 194 with his 3-year-old daughter and his 8-year-old son. "You want some of this?" D'Amato allegedly said while aiming the replica Walther PPK .380 at the man. When police arrived, D'Amato reportedly pointed the toy gun at an officer and refused to drop it.
