Drunk Frenchman pulls toy gun on Berlin police just outside synagogue

BERLIN – A Frenchman visiting Berlin probably couldn't have picked a more dangerous spot to pull a pretend pistol.

Police say the heavily drunk tourist kneeled down in front of Germany's biggest synagogue Thursday and pointed what appeared to be a gun at officers guarding the building.

Luckily for him, a quick-witted policewoman noticed that the weapon was a toy before her colleagues opened fire on the Frenchman.

Berlin police spokesman Dirk Stoewhase said the unnamed 25-year-old man could have ended the day in the morgue instead of a jail cell.

Stoewhase said the gun might easily have been mistaken for a real weapon because "it certainly didn't just look like a water pistol."

Jewish buildings in Germany are routinely guarded by armed police to prevent anti-Semitic attacks.