Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised
we delve deep into one of the most intense and infamous events in American law enforcement history—the North Hollywood Shootout.
On February 28, 1997, the streets of Los Angeles turned into a war zone as two heavily armed and armored bank robbers engaged in a brutal standoff with police officers.
For 44 minutes, the robbers unleashed over 1,100 rounds of ammunition, causing chaos and panic in broad daylight.
the north hollywood shoutout is a story of a bank robbery that went very ,very wrong.
a surrealist holdup worthy of a movie scene or worthy of an open world video game…
Los Angeles 1997.
what happened in los angeles on the morning morning of february 28th was actually real, that day two stout and heavily armed men decided to carry out an extremely brutal robbery.
a completely botched theft that would soon turn into a huge shooting.
two robbers against almost 400 policemen including SWAT members all in the middle of los angeles and broadcasted live on television.
with an impressive aresnal of illegally modified guns the two robbers will indeed shoot anything that moves to try to get away from the crime scene.
civilians or policemen,nobody is safe from the armor -piercing bullets coming from everywhere.
some of their war weapons shoot 10 bullets per second a simply staggering and insane firepower for a bank robbery.
on the other side the police having only handguns and shotsguns with the weak range to compete with try to keep the bandits at bay.
but the bullets they shoot only tickle them,because adding to their war weapons the robbers also are equipped with bulletproof protection from head to toe.
larry philips Jr and emil matasareanu are the two who were behind this insane robbery.
two guys keen on guns and bodybuilding who met at the gym in 1989.
to then form a friendship rooted in hatred of socety two determined robbers who didn’t seem to be afraid of death
and who during almost an hour spread a climate of terror…
in los angeles.
we still don’t know whether they came to rob a bank or make war.
what is sure they committed one of the most brutal robberies in history.
so brutal that it is known today under the name of :
THE NORTH HOLLYWOOD SHOOUTOUT.
thinking back to bank robberies In the USA , we think of the 1930s in a the area of the john dillinger,baby face nelson, pretty boy floyd and bonnie and clyde.
a period in american history where armed robbery was flourishing.
the great depression struck the US hard, creating an atmosphere of economic distress that led more and more people to turn to robbery.
as a result the number of bank robberies increased dramatically to the point where some people refer to these years:
as the golden age of bank robbery.
but fortunately this trend was put on hold after a while and following decades were rather quiet in terms of armed robbery.
the authorities had managed to put a stop to this incredible rise in crime we though t it was all a thing of the past.
but not at all,since bank robberies would make a resurgence from the 1960s onwards more precisely between 1965 and 1975 when armed robberies climbed from 850 to almost 3,500 per year.
a spectacular rise you may say but it didn’t stop there…
yes , because the trend continued into the 70s and 80s with 5,500 robberies in 19 85 alone.
the curve then kept climbing reaching even more insane figures in the following decade with almost 7,900 robberies in 1990 and 9.388 the year after.
a real epidemic of armed robbery with this epicenter in the far west of the united states – los angeles the city thatt has become known as the national capital of bank robbery.
an unenviable title we may when it comes to attracting tourists we’ve seen better but believe me ,the city of angels deserved this distinction,in fact you only have to look at te crime rates at the time to understand.
1991 recorded over 9.300 robberies,the quarter of that staggering figure came from los angeles county alone.
2355 robberies in that single year, worse it’s not even the highest total the city has ever recorded.
because we still have 1992 when the peak was reached this time with 2,641 armed robberies that’s roughly seven bank robberies a day.
or one every working hour.
just imagine , moreover there were so many of them in the 80s and 90s that hollywood took an interest in the phenomenon producing some of the greatest bank robbery films set in southern california. point break actually ,released in 1991
and above all the benchmark in bank robbery films released in 1995 Heat.
at the time los angeles was suffering from an ever increasing number of robberies if the rates were alarming what was even more so was the brutal violence with which gangsters operated during these armed robberies.
most of them were equipped as if they were going to war, machine guns, assault rifles,bulletproof vests.
it seemed that with this new wave of robbers the end justified the means and nothing could stop them from steeling the loot.
they had set their sights on so much so in fact that some thought that if they had to kill they would.
what turned bank robberies into recurrently violent operations in los angeles was that famous robbery on september 5th 1991.
1991
on this particular day ,two men ,members of a bank robbery gang well known to the police as the west hills bandits, enter a wells fargo branch in the Tarzana district of los angeles.
heavily armed and wearing masks they paradoxically demonstrate a disconcerting civility when it comes to robbery.
they gather customers and emplyees together telling them quite naturally” enjoy the show”.
in less than 2 minutes the establishment is robbed, true professionals there was no doubt about it and courteous too since as they left their premises they gave the hostages a cheerful” thanks everyone”.
the two robbers left , thrilled with quite a hall in their their pockets $437,000 a record loot for the los angeles jurisdiction at the time.
which would alas be mistakenly revealed to the general public by a bank employee because it was from that moment on that things really took turn for the worse.
for among those tipped off were some of the city’s criminals who were already licking their chops when they heard how much had been stolen ,they now had proof that it was possible to make large sums of money by robbing banks in los angeles.
such was the case with robert sheldonbrown aka casper a prominent member of the Crips gang who figured that robberies might indeed be a good business idea.
within weeks he sent a doxens of armed teenage gangs to rob the city’s banks, these kids often young as 13.
unlike the west hills bandits who were polite and meticulous, these kids were nervous undisciplined and above all extremely violent.
the baby bandits as the FBI came to call them would appear in the banks firing bursts of bullets at the ceiling,when it wasn’t at themselves or their accomplices.
when they attacked no one was spared sometimes tellers were needlessly beaten with rifle butts or hostage customers had their wedding rings brutally ripped from their fingers by the baby bandits.
so of course their amateurism disserved them to the point they were captured in droves by the authorities.
but the more they wer captured the more casper sent new new ones teenage gangsters were a common sight and casper was never short staffed.
so thanks to his harmy of baby bandits he was able to commit over 175 robberies more than any other person in US history and not take part in any of them.
if los angeles earned the title of bank robbery capital in the 90s you can be sure it was largely due to him.
just like the sudden rise in violence committed during these same holdups at the time and even though robert sheldon brown would later be arrested others would follow in his footsteps…
like these two young men who had no doubt watched too much “heat” and who in turn tried their hand at bank robbery with equally extreme and gratuitous violence.
two guys who were none other than
larry phillips Jr and emil matasareanu-the perpetrators of the north hollywood shootout.
we’re in the mid 90s and the heyday of armed robbery seems to be over .
the number of robberies in los angeles is drastically dropping from 2641 during the peak of 1992 to 749 the following year
the main reason,the leader of the baby bandits was under arrest in 1993.this arrest gave the LA police a breath at least until 1996 when another group of robbers appeared .
the duo we’re interested in
featuring larry phillips Jr and emil matasareanu..
but let’s take a step back in time to get an understanding of who these two men were.
larry phillips JR of mexican and italian descent was born on september the 20th 1970 in los angeles into a family not like any other
larry phillips senior had several run- ins with the law during his life which didn’t make his son’s childhood any easier.
it is said that it was his father who encouraged larry phillips Jr to take the road of delinquency by projecting onto him his hatred of police officers.
according to larry phillips senior ,this hatred began on his son’s 6th birthday when FBI agents came to his house guns drawn to arrest him.
another version says that the father would have also have influencse his son during montain trips which would hav created in larry an version to la enforcement.
later his parents devorced and larry lived with his mother even though his father continutes to see him and plays a rolls in his life.
taken him to try his hand at firearms at shooting ranges,these sessions instilled in the young man a real passsion for weapons.
at 13 ,he dropped out of school because what interest larry most is money, he wants to get rich quick and he’s determined to do it by following in the footsteps of his idols .
some of them of whom were big names and white collar crime according to his half brother he was motivated by nothing more than money and power.
then came the inevitable, on september 2nd. 1991 larry committed his first crime a theift of $ 400 worth of suits for which he was arrested and tried and which brought him a 3 day stay at the police station.
as the months went on ,he found himself in legal trougble again this time because of illegal real estate activities fraud to be precise a crime for which he will be sentended again.
but larry doesn’t seem to learn his lessons and keeps on perservering, his tthirst for wealth coupled with the resentment of cocietys rules only grows.
sometimes he would take his halfbrother to the richest parties of the city to motivate him as he put it in particular he would tell him
why don’t you visualixe hourself in that house, the reason is society tells you you have to have a 9-5 job until you retired at 65.
weealth is what drove larry phillip junior abit like bodybuilding another of his pasions that he practiced diligently and which led him to meet the secong protagonist of the north hollywood shoutout.
Emil Mătăsăreanu
gold’s gym in venice beach is where larry and emil first met, larry a boddy building enthusiast h s been dreaming of becoming the new arnold schwarzenegger since he was a teenager.
he puts his heart and soul into it reading a plathero of books on the subject and training regularly, unfortunately not everyone can becom a bodybuilding star.
geneticks playng a large part , larry realizes that his dram will remain forever out of reach and puts and and to his ambitons.
to be mr olympia, this disillusionment doesn’t provent him from remaining disiplined in his training.
however larry continues to attends gold’s gym until thhe day he meets another regular who is also pasionate about body building and firearms.
Emil Mătăsăreanu of romania origin was born in timara romania. on july 19th 1966, he was the only son of parents who decided to leave europe in the mid 1970s and settle in the United states in los angeles.
like larry ,emil had a difficultchildhood but for different reasons ,his classmates regularly mocked him for his romanian accent and for being overweight.
this constant harassment prompted him to spend much of his time at home in front of his computer, during this period he devoleped a passion for firearms.
he managed to make a few friends ,but never kept them for very long he was a socialy maladjusted young man as his mother describes him.
at home tensions flare as emil’s parents begin to argue more and more divorce was around the corner but emil seemed to be coping with the situation for the time being.
he continued his studies,taking a three -year course in electronic engineering, graduating in 1987
sometime later he opened his own IT business,his mother wanted him to continue his studies but he was determined to enter the business world and start earning money.
his parents recurring quars and pressure he was under gradually weighed on him leading to a series of temper tantrums such as the time he threw a chainsaw in his neighbor’s face because his dog had dared to walk on their lawn.
computers and guns ar no longer enough to relieve emil’s stress and neighbors often see him on the front porch cleaning his guns.
the needed to channel his anger leads him to another passion which initially causes him lose over 100 lb.
but also leads him to meet his future partner in crime- larry.
the story takes place in 1991 at Gold’s gym in venice beach los angeles
emil who trains there reguarly meets a man who will dramatically change his life a young man like him enjoys lifting weights and guns and who will soon embark with him on a frenzied crime spree.
because it’s larry who’s clearly going to emerge as the leader in this new friendship to the point where he manipulates emil psychologiclly because according to larry’s half- brother emil was just a follower in the group.
this how larry controlled every aspect of emil life.
he most likely told him about his resentment towards the police and society and even went so far as to influence his choice of spouse.
emil had indeed returned to romania in the early 19190s to bring his grandmother to the united states.
he then used the opportunity to bring back a romanian women whom he later married , larry for his part, was with a hispanic women.
so it was thisfriendship that triggered the events that unfolded in north hollywood on february 28th 1997 an ordinary friendship but one that would soon turn into a murderous agreement.
los angeles was clearly not ready for what was to come
octobor 1993 glendale los angeles county .
larry phillips junior and emil driving a red ford thunderbird leaving a gas station at high speed.
just then ian grimes a nearby police sergeant spots them and immediately gives chase.
having succeeded in stopping them the officer then ask them a few routine control questions .
face with the officer’s questions larry seemedrelucted to answer.worse. emil lies to the officer ,saying that thecar belongs to larry’s mother even though they had rented it at an airport.
emilc should have known that before arresting them the police man would have asked for a license plate check
which of course he later did
faced with larry’s hesitantion and his friend’s attempt at deception officer grimes senses that something is fishy
so he invites lary to get out f his car and join him in the back to check out and what does he find- a gun.
the agen’ts suspicion grows and grows he immediately calls for reinforcements and when they open the trunk.
suprise he and his colleagues a whole aresenla of weapons uncluding assault riffles machine guns , explosive devices,bulletproof vests smoke bombs enough to leave the police speachless.
had larry and emil been speeding to a safe house to hide all this equipment? it’s possible. what’s certain is that they couldn’t have gone far now that the officers had arrested them.
larry and emil were identified by the police e and sentenced to prison for conspiracy to commit robbery for what they each spend about 100 days in jail,they serve their respective sentences then are released onto the streets of los angeles with a large art of their arsenal in their possession…of course they don’t learn their lesson and get ready to commit their first robbery.
herman cook a 51 year old father of two .
orders one of the bandits to the one ot the bandits to the pedestrians before taking action.
the extremely brutal robbery began with the barrage of shots fired without warning at the armored car in full view of a doxen witnesses .
the bandits didn’t even give the security guards a chance to hand over the money simply opening fire on them without warning .
using ther atomatic assault rifles with armor piercing bullets, they gave herman cook no chance and he died under fire ,shot at point blank range.
$ 122,500 was the loot that larry and emil had taken that day at the cost of a man’s life even the reward offered for their capture would prove greater than the amount they stole that day.
1996
march 27th 1996, 9 months later
larry and emil attack another armored car with an wqually direct and brutal modus operandi,they were in a van when one of them on the passenger side shot through the door windshield of a brink’s van coming towards them in the opposite direction .
one of the agents inside is slightly wounded by shards of glass but this is not enough to stp the vehicle carrying the money as it speeds off to escape the the assailants.
larry and emil turn back to try t and catch up with it but are unable to do so.it’s their first big failure to erase the evidence they set fire to their van before changing vehicles and fleeing the scene.
the scene is eerly reminiscentof the film Heat released a month earlier.
1996
may 2nd, 1996 the duo followed up with another armed robbery ,gone were the armored vans .
now they decided to take the plunge and hit the banks their first target;
a bank of america branch in the van nuys district of los angeles.
it was shortly before 10 :00 am. when the two robbers armed with automatic rifles burst into the establishment and fired a dozen shots into the ceiling.
inside some 30 people were taken hostage including several children.
terrfied by what was happening some of them were crying which soon irritated the two men who threatened to kill them if their mothers didn’t make them stop crying.
larry and emil have absolutely no scruples all they care about is money and that day they’re goung to get a lot of it- over $ 755 ,000.
may 31 st 1996
it’s the same old story ….
larry and emil attacked a second bank of america branch
not far from where they robbed the armored car that had claimed herman cook’s life a year before.
the robbery began at 10 :05 with the same modus operandi as earlier in the month ,this time however they left two injured tellers in their wake.
the amount stole was even greater than the previous $ 794, 200 giving them a total of $ 1 500,000 in the space of 30 days.
the investigators had been warned,for the first time they could see the two robbers they were looking for through the surveillance cameras.
two hooded robbers with imposing intimidating builds walking slowly assault rifles in hand.
an atypical bank robber profile and what espceially jumps out at the FBI agents is the time taken by the duo to pull upp off the robberies.
6 minutes for the first and 8 minutes for the second.
which is an eternity for bank robberies.
in fact it’s as if they don’t seem to be in any hurry when it comes to robbing.
always keeping the same pace, even during the getaway as if in the end it wasn’t robbery itself that animated them but th possible armed confrontation with the authorities.
maybe that was what what they wanted to do after all well if it was they were in for a treat.
yeas , because we finally arrived at the holdup we’re interested in.
the one that will soon pit larry and emil against police officers in the middle of los angeles.
the north hollywood shootout was just around the corner……..
1997
february 28th, 1997,los angeles that morning in the city of angels the weather was mild and clement.
the blue scy over the city suggests a pleasent sunny day just another winter’s morning you might say .
for the residents of north hollywood who have no idea that their neighborhood will soon be the scene of one of the most violent urban shootouts in history.
two men in a white chevrolet with heavily tinted windows speed down the road toards a bank in the north hollywood neighborhood.
larry and emil are ready for their next big Heist.
with them is an impressive arsenal including several illegally modified weapons of a war.
larry is carrying almost 20 kg of gear including homemade bulletproof protection which covers him from head to toe.
emil more lightly equipped takes only a metal ballistic plate to protect his vital organs.
sometime earlier they had swallowed tranquilizers to reduce the stress of going into action.
9:11 a.m
the duo gradually aproched their target a bank of america branch in north hollywood.
the car parks but surpisingly the robber’s position it facing the wall a curious strategy given that parking in revers would have enabled them to escape more quickly.
no matter ,the robbery is about to begin…..
larry and emil put on their hoods and sunglasses,larry does a quick check on the police scanner which he illegally posesses.
and then it’s off.
9:17 a.m
when the wo men exit the vehicle one after the other, their watches are set to 8 minutes- the time they estimate before the polixw interverne.
they head for the bank entrance.their bodybuilder stature combined with the heavy equipment they’re wearing make them look like two intimediating monsters about to terrify the world.
the robery begins when larry orders one of the banäs customers to enter the establishment.
two policemen standing near the bank witness the surreal scene.
the robbery had barely begun but the alert had already been given unaware of this , larry and emil carry on with their robbery.
then putting their money where their mouths are the two of them strafe the ceiling of the bank.
the 30 or so employee and customers present at the bank of america that morning are terrified.
it doesn’t take long for LAPD patrol cars to arrive at the scene of the crime.
inside the bank larry ensure s that all the hostages remain motionless 30 men, women and children lie on the floor terrrified by the criminal who roams the room threatening to kill anyone who dares challenge his authority.
meanwhile , emil is busy collecting the money, he then hits a 79 year old lady who doesn’t obey quicly enough with a backhand to the head then fires a dozen shots at the security door of the ticket office.
emil then heads into the private part of the bank where the wault and other emplyees are located.
among the employees is the banl’s deputy manager who holds the key to the vault ,seeing the robber’s determination he gives him access without resisting .
this doesn’t stop emil from whaking him over the hand with a rifle butt.
once inside the wault,emil gets more and more upset ,the deputie manager unlocked secure boxes containing only small bundles.
the bandit’s big blackbag isn’t filling up fast enoug for his liking they had planned on a hau of $ 7 50,000 and all they get back is bearly half of that just over $ 300,000.
emil stares angrily at his hostage and repeatedly asks him to take out more money alas that’s all the bank had at the time.
an ominous silence falls ,suddenly the disgruntled robber fires his assault rifle into the ceiling of the vault.
for his part ,larry continued to watch the hostages moving from one side of the bank lobby to another when he noticed something strange outside…
not a single car was in sight, larry goes out to investigate and scans the area.he sees a police car parked on his right but no more concerned than that he returns to the bank undisturbed.
larry then lashes out of the hostages and fires his AK -47.
by this time the police have surrounded the bank taking cover behind their vehicles they’re ready for the criminals.
or so they think….
as it turns out their handguns and short range shotguns will be ineffective.
back in the bank emil and larry are disappointed the loot of $ 303.305 is clearly not enough…
but the clock is ticking and the police are pouring in.
contfrontation seems inevitalbe future chaos is on the horizon and it doesn’t help that the cops haven’t had enough time to clear the area of civilians.
for the robbers it’s time to plan their exit,larry orders the security guard to take all the hostages to the vault.
then the two men head for the exit door where the police are waiting with their war weapons and multiple bulletproof protections the upcoming confrontation is already shaping up to be a tense one.
9:24 a.m
larry is the first to emerge from the building,he point his assault rifle at the police vehicles and opens fire…..
the deafening sound of the bullets echoed throughout the neighborhood police officers and civilians dived to the ground in order to avoid the piercing bullets from the automatical rafles.
the cars they were hiding behind were pierced like paper , some bullets even flying out the other side of the bodywork.
200 rounds were fired by larry, he then retreated into the bank.
the first hail of bullets had already wounded several people including two civilians.
9:30
larry reapperead , this time accompanied by emil who is carrying the bag of money.
the bursts of gunfire resume but more intensely.
the hail of bullets hit many police officers including one who wasshot in the thigh shattering his femur.
for the police officers present it’s almost impossible to fight back.
two robbers had far too superior weapons at their disposal.
whitout firepower the idea came to go to a nearby gun store.
larry and emil seemed invincible yet two policemen managed to inflict the first damage
wounding larry phillips.
located some 200 m from the robber one of the policemen took a huge risk by going out into the open to shoot ther robber in the back.
he fired twice wounding larry in the back and buttock.
the robber staggers then turns around in rage spraying the policemen with armor -piercing bullets, then wound him and his partner.
the situation is becoming more and more tense , larry and emil keep on firing at anything that moves.
policemen or civilians no one is spared.
the robbers then want to secure their loot, to do so emil fires continuously to cover his sidekick who heads to the caar with the money bag containing three anti-theft devices.
suddenly the system activates and explodes covering all the cash in red ink ,larry and emil could kiss their 300 grand goodbye.
the confrontation goes on and suprisingly the two bandits don’t seem to want to run away, endeed they go so far as to attpemt to break into an automatic teller machine outside the bank .
seeimingly in no hurry ,larry strolls quietly pass the bank shooting anything that moves including news helicopters broadcasting the shootout live.
for emil things are more complicated hit by several bullets including one that tore his eyebrow he was ina state of shock and put himself out of action by sitting down in the passenger seat of the car.
at this point they could very well have taken their car and sped off but no instead they continued to confront th autorities.
no doubt larry who had a tenacious hatred of cops took great pleasure in shooting at the police.
and since he was the leader of the duo, emil probably followed him at one point however we see emil trying to convince his accomplice to leave.
passing to the driver’s side he opens the passenger door to signal to his accomplice that it’s time to leave.
but larry doesn’t seem to mind and closes the door with the sweep of his hip as if to say ” i still want to have some fun”.
a scene which shows that his partner may have intended to put an end to the bloodshed because it’s possible that emil heard on his radio scanner the arrival of SWAT to help the police.
and confronting SWAT was another matter,in an attempt to convince larry of the necessity to leave emil stepped on the gas pedal and slowly drove the chevrolet towards the north exit of the parking lot.
Larry follow on foot and continues too shoot at the targets around him after that he takes cover behind a semi-trailer while emil still driving the car seems to be waiting for him to get away once and for all.
exept that larry is unwilling to answer his calls busy repairing his gun which has jammed in the meantime.
that’s when a police officer positioned right in front of the trailer sees emil and start shooting.
the bullet passes through the driver’s window in just few centimeters from emil’s face. startled emil hit the gas pedal and pulls hard on the steering wheel practically lying down on the front seats to avoid the shots.
larry is now alone kneeling in the back of the truck,he still tries to unblock his gun in vain .
officer caparelli stationed up the street from larry handgun in hand and exposed fires at assailant then quickly escapes to avoid the kalishnikov first.
what he doesn’t know is that larry’s gun is jammed preventing the robber from firing back.
agent caparelli continued to shoot at larry who began flinch a bullet hits him in the right clavicle artery severing it and causing a severe wound.
in respons larry pullet out his beretta pistol and counterattacked when suddenly another policeman hit him on the right hand causing him to drop his pistol.
he picks it up from the ground places the barrel under his chin and pulls the trigger one last time..
9:56 a.m
the first assailant in the north hollywood shootout is dead.
meanwhile emil whos car has both rear tires punctured in the windshield covered with bullet holes tries to steel another vehicle to escape.
for several minutes he tries to steal every car he comes across but the first two carjackings fail.
in one of them he is seen waving in the direction of larry who lies three blocks to the east dead surrounded by policemen.
emil taps his chest twice as if to bid him a final farwell, emil then attempts to steal a third vehicle and this is it a beige jeep arrives in the opposite direction and is blocked by the criminals white chevrole
t which shoots out the driver’s windshield the driver of the pickup hit by shrapnel in the arm and face doesn’t try to understand he flees imediatelly
emil now has a way out he transfers his weapons and ammunition to the pickup then tries to start the car.
problem it wouldn’t start,the driver had activated the kill switch rendering the jeep unusable then a police patrol car with three SWAT team members on board arrives at full speed and pulls up in front of the pickup where emil sitting.
still trying to start the car….
seeing the police arrive emil immediately leaves the stolen vehicle and positions himself in the back of his chevrolet ready to face the SWAT team.
less then 20 m away for the first time the confrontation is one of equal firepower with the officers armed with assault rifles,escape seems compromised for the fugitive but that doesn”t stop him from continuing the fight.
cornered behind his car however he is quickly overtaken by the bursts of SWAT bullets flying everywhere, emil tries to fire back blindly but most of the bullets land in his own windshield and on the open trunk of the car.
the police continue to fire at emil who is shot several times in the chest but emil is still alive.seeing the assailant still crouching and in firing position the SWAT agent then had the good idea to aim at a unprotected legs.
the shots fly off andhit emil several times, with his legs riddled with bullets emil no longer had the strengh to continue.
he was hit 29 times and lost a lot of blood, the SWAT officers put him on the stomach and handcuffed him.
emil smiling then has the strengh to utter a few obscenities and even taunts them saying “shoot me in the fucking head”
he bled to death on the pavement before the ambulance could arrive.
the north hollywood shootout was finally over
a botched robbery that left two dead.
larry philips Jr and emil Mătăsăreanu
a real miracle considering the violence of the event whivch also injured eight civilians and 12 police officers two of them seriusly forcing them to end their careers .
in addition 12 police cars were destroyed and 85 vilian vehicles were hit.
the hundreds of bullet holes in the walls reflected the horror of what had happened that morning…now it was time for cleanup.
finally the north hollywood shootout highlighted the glaring imbalance and firearms between police and criminals.
the police’s shotguns and handguns were clearly no match for the criminals assault rifles and bulletproof protection.
this was done after the north hollywood shootout when the LAPD followed by police departements across the US were issued semi- automatic riffles to prevent further incidents of this type.
police would later discover that larry phillips had a copy the film Heat in his home a film that the two men probably used as inspiration for their robberies.
firearms were also seized during the raids on larry and emil’s homes.
the most of the stolen money around $ 1.500.000 from previous robberies was never recovered.
the story that ends in mystery ,that’s the end of this incredible story.