Every once in a while, we hear calls from activists that America's police departments need major reform. This is especially true today.
In the wake of incidents like the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, coupled with stories of police brutality and misconduct, individuals from the Left often propose cutting down on the hardware police have access to.
Often, we hear the specific complaint that America's police force is overly militarized. Why are our police given so much heavy equipment, these people ask. Why do officers need assault rifles, submachine guns, armored cars, and even tanks?
Well, I thought I would answer these specific questions in this blog post. Before I start, however, I will state that I will not be addressing the racial issues clouding America's police forces and their interactions with the black community. That is an important topic to discuss, but it will not be discussed at length here. This piece is solely about the issue of police militarization, and why, ultimately it is a necessity in this country.
To drive this point home, I wish to tell the story of an infamous incident that took place in North Hollywood, California, in 1997, when two heavily-armed bank robbers took on over 300 officers from the LAPD in a dramatic, 44-minute shootout.
The gun battle highlighted just how heavily armed criminals can be, and it changed American law enforcement forever.
The High-Incident Bandits
It was the morning of February 28, 1997. Even in the winter, the California weather was hot enough for people to wear shorts. On this bright, sunny day, the residents of North Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles, reported to work in the morning as usual. Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department were on routine patrol. While this may seem like an overused cliche, it truly was just like any other day.
But, for two people in North Hollywood, this day was anything but routine. They had been preparing for this day for months, conducting surveillance, gathering materials, and laying out plans.
Today, Larry Eugene Phillips, 26, and Emil Matasareanu, 30, planned to score it big. They were to hit the North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America. An armored car was supposed to deliver several million dollars in cash to the bank this morning. The plan was simple: After the armored car delivered its truckload of cash, Matasareanu and Phillips would storm the bank, subdue the employees, and make off with the money before police could arrive.
This was not the first time Phillips and Matasareanu had carried out a robbery. Over the past four years, they had robbed over 1.5 million dollars from several armored cars and banks, brandishing weapons and spraying automatic rifle fire to pin down bank employees. Their brazen behavior earned them the nickname of "The High-Incident Bandits".
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| Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu during a 1996 bank robbery in Van Nuys, California |
But Phillips and Matasareanu had done far more than simply steal money. During one of these robberies, the pair had committed murder. In June of 1995, they ambushed a Brinks' armored car in Winnetka, California.
Brinks' guard Herman Cook, 51, had just picked up a cash deposit from a bank, and was returning to the armored car where his partner, Felipe Cortez, waited for him inside the truck. Without warning, Phillips and Matasareanu emerged, brandishing fully-automatic AK-47 assault rifles. They immediately opened fire, killing Cook with three rounds to the back, and grabbed his cash bag.
Cortez spotted Phillips and returned fire with his service pistol through a gun port in the truck, but he was outgunned. Matasareanu riddled the truck's cabin with automatic gunfire, severely wounding Cortez. After robbing the truck, the two bank robbers fled in a getaway car with over $122,000 in cash.
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| The bullet-riddled Brinks' armored truck at Winnetka (left) following the attack by Phillips and Matasareanu. During the robbery, the pair shot and killed Brinks guard Herman Cook (right) and wounded his partner. |
Police knew the High-Incident Bandits had no qualms about killing. It was clear they were willing to commit murder during their robberies. But the police still had no idea who the robbers were, or where they would strike next.
So, on that sunny morning in late February of 1997, nobody knew that this quiet suburb of North Hollywood, California, was about to be turned into a literal war zone.
The Plan
Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu had planned extensively for this heist, staking out the bank, observing cash shipment hours, and calculating police response times. The bandits knew full well that they could have a confrontation with police during the robbery, so Phillips had taken steps to ensure that he and Matasareanu would have the upper hand in a firefight.
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| Larry Phillips wore a suit of Aramid body armor that covered him from head to toe. |
Over his homemade armor, Phillips wore a bulletproof vest, wore leg, thigh, shin, arm, and back protection, and reinforced his armor with steel plates around his vital organs and his groin. Also over his armor, Phillips wore a jacket and a load-bearing vest to carry ammunition for his weapons. Phillips himself wore so much armor that it weighed approximately 45 pounds, the equivalent of about 5 bowling balls.
Matasareanu didn't wear as much armor as Phillips, but he still had a considerable amount of protection. He wore a bulletproof Aramid vest and attached steel plates around his upper body and groin. Each robber also wore a black ski mask and black gloves with watches sewn on them.
The weaponry used by the robbers was even more formidable. Phillips and Matasareanu each carried a Norinco Type 56 (a Chinese variant of an AK-47 assault rifle), illegally converted to fully-automatic fire. At fully-automatic mode, an AK-47 can fire 600 rounds per minute.
In addition to the standard 30-round magazines, each robber also carried several illegal 75 and 100-round drum magazines for their weapons, and used special steel bullets that could penetrate car metal.
An AK-47 can fire a bullet at almost a kilometer per second and almost never jams, even when firing on fully-automatic mode. If Phillips and Matasareanu came face-to-face with police, they would undoubtedly have the upper hand.
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| The AK-47s carried by Phillips and Matasareanu were equipped with 100-round drum magazines |
Additionally, in the trunk of their car, the robbers packed additional weapons such as homemade bombs, a 9mm pistol, a semi-automatic HK-91 assault rifle, another fully-automatic AK-47 rifle, and a fully-automatic Bushmaster XM15-E2S assault rifle, along with over 3,300 rounds of ammunition in several high-capacity drum magazines.
With their formidable weapons and tough body armor, Phillips and Matasareanu were literal killing machines. Nothing the police had at their disposal would be able to stand in their way.
2-11 at North Hollywood
At about 9:17 AM on February 28, 1997, Phillips and Matasareanu arrived at the Bank of America, right at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Archwood Street. Bank employees had just opened the branch for business, and were preparing to receive the armored car's cash shipment.As they waited in the car for the armored car to arrive, Phillips and Matasareanu each took some phenobarbital to calm their nerves.
Strangely, the armored car didn't arrive when the robbers thought it would. Figuring the car was just running late, the robbers decided to wait some more. But when the car still didn't show up, Phillips and Matasareanu became frustrated. Unwilling to leave empty handed, the pair decided to change their plans and hit the Bank of America itself.
After putting on their masks and grabbing their weapons, the pair exited their white Chevy Celebrity and walked towards the bank, carrying a duffel bag which would hold the money.
As the pair walked towards the entrance, LAPD officers Loren Farrell and Martin Perello drove by the bank. As they passed the building, Farrell looked in his mirror and spotted two armed, black-clad, masked men entering the bank.
"Oh, shit!" he said as he immediately swerved the patrol car back around. Using the police code for a bank robbery, Farrell keyed his radio and broadcast the alert "15A43 requesting assistance. We have a possible 2-11 in progress at the Bank of America". He was certain that the high-incident bandits had returned.
The pair of robbers entered through the first set of doors at the bank. There, they came upon a civilian at the ATM machine. The man had just withdrawn a receipt when he turned around and found himself staring down the barrel of Larry Phillips' AK-47. "Okay, motherfucker!", Phillips snarled, prodding the man forward with his rifle. "Let's go!". He then pushed the civilian forward through the next set of doors, and he and Matasareanu marched forward and entered the bank.
After entering the bank, Phillips immediately screamed "Everyone down! This is a fucking hold-up! Everyone down, motherfuckers!". He fired off four individual shots before he began spraying automatic gunfire from his AK-47 into the ceiling of the bank, shattering light fixtures, shredding ceiling tiles, and forcing the terrified employees to the floor as broken glass and tile dust rained down.
Matasareanu joined him. "Motherfucker!", the Romanian shrieked. "Get down before I kill your fucking ass!" Like Phillips, Matasareanu let loose a barrage of automatic gunfire from his AK-47, pinning down the bank's occupants.
Phillips was to watch over the bank employees and customers while Matasareanu stole the cash. Walking further into the building, Matasareanu noticed an elderly bank customer raising his head up. The gunman struck the man in the head with his rifle stock and yelled "Keep your fucking head down!". When another customer, an elderly woman, raised her head to see what was going on, Matasareanu slapped her in the head. "Down, fucking bitch!", he yelled. "Head down!".
Phillips stepped over customers on his way to the vault. "Don't look at me!", he yelled. "Nobody look at me or I will kill you!".
Coming upon a security guard, Phillips put his foot on the guard's neck and aimed a rifle at his head. "If you move, motherfucker, I will kill you! You understand?".
The guard nodded.
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| Larry Phillips (in foreground) watches over bank customers while Emil Matasareanu heads towards the vault. |
As Phillips watched over the customers, Matasareanu walked over to the teller counters, which were closed off from the bank lobby by a supposedly bulletproof door. Aiming at the door, which was not designed to withstand rifle rounds, the robber fired his assault rifle again, tearing the door apart and shattering the teller windows. He yanked open the door and marched over to the assistant bank manager, John Villigrana, who was crouching behind a desk, terrified.
Matasareanu whacked Villagrana across the head with the stock of his AK-47, knocking the man to the floor. He then grabbed Villigrana and yanked him to his feet. "The vault!" he screamed. "Open the fucking vault!" The frightened man complied and opened the vault door. Matasareanu forced Villagrana into the vault, threatening to shoot him if he didn't do as he asked. Handing Villagrana a black duffel bag, Matasareanu ordered the terrified manager to load up the bag with money.
When Matasareanu called out to Phillips, who was watching over the bank employees, he momentarily turned away from Villagrana. The bank manager quickly slipped three dye packs into the duffel bag along with the money. If the dye packs were taken out of the bank, they would explode, staining the stolen money with bright red liquid and making it unusable.
Matasareanu didn't notice Villagrana put the dye packs into the bag, but he did notice that there was far less money in the vault than the $750,000 he was expecting. The robber's temper rose.
"Where's the rest of the money?", he yelled to Villagrana. "Where's all of it? I want you to open up ALL of it!" The manager began panicking. "That's all there is!", he pleaded. "They changed the amount we keep because of recent robberies."
Furious, Matasareanu yelled out in anger, aimed his AK-47 at the vault cabinet and, in a display of uncontrolled rage, let loose another barrage of automatic gunfire. Matasareanu emptied his entire 75-round drum magazine into the vault cabinet, shredding most of the remaining money.
Matasareanu wasn't buying Villagrana's story. He threw down his empty drum magazine and jammed a fresh one into his rifle. He turned back to Villagrana. "You're lying!", he snarled as he glowered at Villagrana with his piercing eyes. He pressed the barrel of his rifle against Villagrana's head and jerked back the bolt. "Get the fucking money", he snarled, "or I will fucking kill you!"
Villagrana was certain that he was about to die. He closed his eyes and waited for the gunman to blow him away.
But suddenly, in an extraordinary twist of fate, before Matasareanu could shoot Villagrana, Phillips called out to his partner. Their eight minutes were up. It was time for the robbers to make their getaway before the police arrived.
Matasareanu picked up and shouldered the duffel bag, which contained a little over $300,000 in cash. It was far less than he was hoping for, but it was still a substantial amount of money. There was always another day to get more.
Before leaving, Phillips and Matasareanu corralled the bank customers and employees and forced them into the vault. "Everybody in the vault!", Matasareanu yelled. "Move it! Move it! Get in the vault!".
After forcing the hostages into the vault, the robbers partially closed the heavy metal vault door and headed for the exit.
Both gunmen split up, each heading for different exit doors at the bank. Matasareanu headed for the bank's south door, where he would pick up the getaway car, and Phillips headed for the north door.
The robbers had no idea that over 50 LAPD officers were surrounding the bank, guns drawn, waiting to take them down.
Firefight
Outside the Bank of America, over 50 police officers had arrived after hearing the 211 call. They encircled the building, some taking cover behind squad cars or kiosks. Police cars and officers were blocking all escape routes, and road junctions had been cordoned off. The robbers were trapped. Police expected that the High Incident Bandits would have no choice but to surrender.
But the police had no idea that they were so heavily outgunned. The LAPD was armed with semi-automatic Beretta M92 pistols (which held 15 rounds in each magazine), six-shot .38 Smith and Wesson revolvers, and 12-gauge Ithaca 37 shotguns. None of the officers were armed with rifles or automatic weapons.
Furthermore, many officers were not wearing body armor, and those who were only had standard-issue Kevlar vests, which were designed to resist small-arms fire, not AK-47 rounds. The armor worn by the gunmen was strong enough to deflect practically any kind of bullet that the police had in their arsenal.
The time was 9:24 AM. Larry Phillips was about to walk outside the north doorway. Emil Matasareanu lingered behind in the bank. The plan was for Phillips to pin down any arriving officers with gunfire while Matasareanu came around in his car to pick him up and make a getaway.
Larry Phillips walked outside the north doorway. He had expected that maybe one or two police cars would have arrived, but he was stunned to see dozens of policemen surrounding the entire bank, training pistols and shotguns on him. The officers yelled for Phillips to freeze and drop his weapon.
But Phillips wasn't about to give up. He'd already had numerous run-ins with the police, and had developed a hatred for law enforcement. And Phillips knew he was carrying much more potent weaponry than the LAPD.
Phillips scanned the police presence. He made eye contact with LAPD officer Dean Haynes, who was taking cover behind his patrol car with two civilians, aiming his Beretta pistol at the robber.
Phillips seemed to sneer as he raised his rifle. Immediately, the bandit aimed at Haynes' patrol car and opened fire.
In the words of a bystander, the patrol car just "exploded".
A barrage of bullets pierced right through the sides of the police cruiser, shattering the windows, tearing through tires and wheels, and pinning down the outmatched officers. More shots punched quarter-sized holes through through the patrol car, ripping into the leg and abdomen of the two civilians.
Dean Haynes didn't even have time to fire his weapon. He dove to the ground, taking cover behind the patrol car's engine block, and began praying.
With Haynes down, Phillips shifted his aim to another patrol car, behind which LAPD officer Martin Whitfield was taking cover. Immediately, Phillips unleashed another fusillade of automatic fire. AK-47 rounds shattered the windshield and back window of the patrol car, and one round struck Whitfield in the upper back.
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| LAPD officers take cover as the shootout begins |
Officers immediately began returning fire, shooting pistol rounds from their handguns back at Phillips as he reloaded his rifle. The shots bounced harmlessly off of the gunman's body armor, and Phillips immediately began spraying automatic fire back at the officers, pinning them down.
The police were dangerously outmatched. The return fire was having no effect, and Phillips' assault rifle was much more powerful and more accurate than any weapons the LAPD had.
Within seconds, cries for help flooded the police radios. "Everybody stay down!", yelled an officer over the radio. "Rapid automatic fire, they're combing the area with fire. Fully automatic weapons!"
Phillips soon spotted a police helicopter hovering overhead. The robber shifted his aim upwards and began spraying automatic fire at the aircraft. Rounds slammed into the side of the copter, forcing it to retreat to a safer distance.
The police weaponry was no match for Phillips' machine gun. Their return fire was having no effect on their target. One LAPD officer would later recall: "We may as well have been using slingshots".
Rookie cop James Zboravan was taking cover behind a locksmith's kiosk with two plainclothes detectives when he heard an "officer down" call go out over the police radio. Zboravan was the only officer at the scene who was armed with a shotgun. With more power and a longer range than the Beretta pistols used by the other police, Zboravan thought his Ithaca 37 shotgun would be able to take down the robber and end the gun battle.
Phillips had his back turned to Zboravan as he was firing at other police officers. His body was exposed, and Zboravan decided to make his move. The rookie cop leaned out from behind the kiosk, took aim, and fired two shotgun rounds at Phillips. He scored a direct hit. Winded, Phillips lurched forward and stumbled as the buckshot pellets struck him in the back. For a second Zboravan thought he had ended the gun battle.
But the armor Phillips was wearing was too strong. All but one of the buckshot pellets bounced off of the Aramid armor the gunman was wearing; the last pellet struck him in the tailbone, barely wounding him.
Phillips spun around, and, for a brief second, he and Zboravan stared at each other, making eye contact. Phillips seemed to sneer again from under his mask, and, immediately, he raised his weapon and began spraying automatic gunfire at the officer with his AK-47.
The shots tore clean through the kiosk, shredding the walls and launching pieces of metal, glass, and wooden shrapnel through the air. Noticing the two detectives next to him were not wearing body armor, Zboravan threw himself on top of his comrades. He was wearing body armor, like Phillips, but his armor was made out of standard-issue Kevlar, which was meant only to protect against small lead bullets from small-arms, not steel-plated AK-47 rounds from a high-powered rifle.
Within seconds, an AK-47 round tore through his hip and exited his buttocks. A second round struck him in the lower back. As Zboravan yelped out in pain, two more rounds bounced off of his handcuffs and flashlight.
Phillips stopped to reload, and Zboravan and his colleagues decided to flee for safer cover. Zboravan spotted a dentist's office nearby, and he and the two detectives began sprinting towards the clinic.
Phillips quickly reloaded his weapon with another 100-round drum magazine. Spotting the three officers fleeing, the robber aimed his weapon and unleashed another barrage of bullets. One of the detectives was hit in the leg and fell to the ground, but Zboravan and the second detective kept running, dodging bullets as they sprinted to safety and dove into the dentist's office. Although he was gravely wounded, Zboravan would later survive his injuries.
With Zboravan down, Phillips once again shifted his aim back to officer Dean Haynes, who had leaned back up from behind his shot-up patrol car to return fire. Phillips let loose another fusillade of bullets, and Haynes was felled by a round that ripped a quarter-sized hole into his shoulder. As he dove for cover, the gunman continued to shoot at him, and another round glanced off his shin. Haynes scrambled behind a neighboring patrol car, where he joined the wounded Officer Whitfield and reloaded his weapon.
After firing for seven minutes, Phillips retreated into the bank to reload. He was in there for only a short period of time. Less than a minute later, at 9:30, both Phillips and Matasareanu exited the bank. The pair continued to shoot a withering volley of automatic fire at the police as they strode out of the bank's lobby.
Now, the police had to deal with two heavily-armored gunmen wielding two automatic rifles. It was a scenario the LAPD had never been faced with before. There was no way they could stop the heavily armed robbers with their insufficient weaponry.
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| Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu fire at police as they exit the lobby of the Bank of America |
Matasareanu began walking towards the getaway car and shouted for Phillips to join him. With the police pinned down by heavy gunfire, the pair both could have escaped then and there and made a clean getaway.
But Phillips wanted to teach the police a lesson. In his mind, law enforcement had screwed with him too many times. It was time to send them a message they would never forget.
Instead of fleeing, Phillips turned back to resume the firefight. Matasareanu changed course and joined him.
Outgunned
The two gunmen each began blasting away at the police again, firing hundreds of rounds at the outgunned officers and shredding the patrol cars. The police nevertheless continued to return fire, determined to take down the dangerous robbers.
LAPD officers Stuart Guy and Tracy Angeles were next to go down. As Guy exchanged fire with Phillips, using his Beretta M92 pistol, gunman Emil Matasareanu shot a burst of automatic fire at him with his rifle. An AK-47 round tore through the back of Guy's right thigh and exited his knee, spraying blood and flesh into the air.
The force of the impact knocked Guy to the ground. As Angeles tried to help him, she was wounded in the buttocks by bullet shrapnel. With rounds chewing up the pavement around her, she rolled to cover behind another patrol car. More AK-47 rounds ripped through the engine block of the car, spraying transmission coolant and engine fluids everywhere.
In the meantime, wounded LAPD officers Haynes and Whitfield were running for cover across the street, heading for a shade tree where they could take cover.
Phillips spotted the two officers running for cover. He shifted his aim again and sprayed another barrage of bullets in their direction. Haynes tripped and fell as he ran, but he played dead and was not hit by gunfire. Whitfield kept running.
As Whitfield dove behind the tree, an AK-47 round struck him right in the center of his right leg. The round shattered 13 centimeters of his femur bone, completely severing it and nearly blowing his entire leg off. As Whitfield collapsed to the ground, two more rounds tore through his arm and chest. Whitfield was bleeding badly. If he didn't get immediate medical attention, he would die within minutes.
By now, the LAPD had realized how outgunned they were against the robbers. With no other weapons to use, several officers were ordered to enter a nearby gun store, where, with permission from the owner, they would borrow a collection of AR-15 rifles and shotguns to use against the gunmen. They needed all the equipment they could get to take down the threat.
Matasareanu was now becoming impatient. Killing cops wasn't part of the plan. He and Phillips had to get out before the SWAT team arrived. Advancing towards the getaway car along the wall of the bank, Matasareanu continued to spray gunfire at responding police.
As Matasareanu retreated, a group of police officers taking cover behind a cement wall began shooting at him. Two bullets struck Matasareanu in the arm and buttocks, disorienting him. As he returned fire at police, a third round grazed his head near his left eye, but did not incapacitate him.
Matasareanu, unfazed, got into the getaway car, opened the trunk, and backed out of the parking space, driving over to Phillips and urging him to get inside.
But Phillips was not done yet. As dozens of officers continued to fire at him, Phillips continued to let loose a deadly barrage of automatic fire, riddling the patrol cars with rounds once again.
At this point, a group of officers had gathered behind a cinderblock wall at a nearby Taco Bell restaurant, which provided more adequate protection against the robbers' AK-47 rounds. The three officers fired over one hundred 9mm pistol rounds at Phillips, striking him dozens of times, but Phillips armor caused most of the shots to simply bounce off. Phillips began spraying the area with another burst of gunfire. AK-47 rounds blasted off chunks of the cinderblock wall, striking a policeman in the face with shrapnel. Another round tore into the neck of police officer Conrado Torrez, sending him sprawling to the ground. More rounds riddled the Taco Bell and a nearby ice cream shop, with one round tearing clean through the shop's lead refrigerator.
Eventually, however, a 9mm round fired by one of the officers tore through Phillips' right wrist, damaging the AK-47 he was carrying. For a minute, the police thought they had finally evened the match.
But Phillips simply strode over to the getaway car, opened the trunk, and pulled out another weapon, a .308-caliber HK-91 rifle.
But Phillips was not done yet. As dozens of officers continued to fire at him, Phillips continued to let loose a deadly barrage of automatic fire, riddling the patrol cars with rounds once again.
At this point, a group of officers had gathered behind a cinderblock wall at a nearby Taco Bell restaurant, which provided more adequate protection against the robbers' AK-47 rounds. The three officers fired over one hundred 9mm pistol rounds at Phillips, striking him dozens of times, but Phillips armor caused most of the shots to simply bounce off. Phillips began spraying the area with another burst of gunfire. AK-47 rounds blasted off chunks of the cinderblock wall, striking a policeman in the face with shrapnel. Another round tore into the neck of police officer Conrado Torrez, sending him sprawling to the ground. More rounds riddled the Taco Bell and a nearby ice cream shop, with one round tearing clean through the shop's lead refrigerator.
Eventually, however, a 9mm round fired by one of the officers tore through Phillips' right wrist, damaging the AK-47 he was carrying. For a minute, the police thought they had finally evened the match.
But Phillips simply strode over to the getaway car, opened the trunk, and pulled out another weapon, a .308-caliber HK-91 rifle.
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| Phillips fires his HK-91 at the LAPD |
Unlike his AK-47, Phillips' HK-91 was semi-automatic, not fully-automatic, but it was still more formidable than any weapon the police had at their disposal, and it had a 60-round magazine. Phillips fired several rounds from the HK-91 at a hovering police helicopter, before resuming firing at the police officers, who, despite being outgunned, continued to shoot back, desperate to stop the robbers before they fled into the surrounding neighborhoods, where civilians would be at risk.
Within seconds, however, a pistol round struck Phillips in the forearm. The pistol round bounced off of the gunman's armor, but the shot briefly stunned him. As Phillips jerked his hand up in response, another pistol round struck the bolt of his HK-91, rendering that weapon inoperable.
But Phillips still wasn't done. Once again, the robber reached into the trunk of his car, and pulled out yet another fully-automatic AK-47.
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| While Matasareanu drives, Phillips retrieves another AK-47 from the trunk of the Chevy |
Phillips sprayed a burst of gunfire at the police with his rifle, then walked up to the window of the getaway car, where Matasareanu waited. Phillips leaned inside to speak to Matasareanu. "You drive! I'll cover!", he yelled.
Matasareanu nodded and began driving the getaway car out of the lot, with Phillips walking alongside it and using it as a shield, continuing to fire at police.
Police knew that if the robbers escaped from the parking lot, they would enter into the residential neighborhoods in North Hollywood, where civilians would be caught in the crossfire. Desperate to stop the vehicle, LAPD officers began firing at the car. They shot out all four tires on the car, sent dozens of rounds through the engine block, and riddled the windshield with bullet holes. Incredibly, however, the vehicle continued to limp forward, with Phillips and Matasareanu laying down a withering barrage of steel bullets as they tried to flee. The car limped out of the parking lot and onto Archwood Street.
Abruptly, and probably because he noticed a police roadblock covering one of the exits, Phillips split from Matasareanu at this point, running on foot down a nearby road. He reloaded his AK-47 with another 100-round drum magazine and, advancing along a sidewalk, he continued to shoot bursts of automatic gunfire at pursuing police.
All the while, the badly wounded officer Martin Whitfield still lay bleeding behind the tree where he fell. Whitfield had been calling for help for several minutes, but by now he had lost consciousness. He was minutes away from death, and, because of the gunfire, none of the police were able to reach him.
At this point, incredibly, the armored car that Phillips and Matasareanu had originally intended to rob arrived at the bank. The two guards inside the truck were dumbfounded to have found themselves in the middle of an intense shootout, but their arrival gave the LAPD officers an idea. The 15-ton steel truck was heavily armored and could withstand larger caliber bullets than the LAPD squad cars. The decision was made to have officers commandeer the truck and use it to rescue Whitfield.
A team of SWAT officers stopped the truck, climbed in the back, and ordered the guards to drive over to the tree where Whitfield lay. As the armored car lumbered forward, the robbers began shooting at it. Bullets hammered into the side of the truck, but the thick armor protected the SWAT officers inside. They reached Whitfield, who by now had lost almost all of his blood, picked him up, and placed him in the back of the armored car.
The next objective was to rescue the two wounded civilians lying behind officer Dean Haynes' squad car. Again braving the gunfire, the armored car drove up to Haynes' patrol cruiser, where they rescued the two wounded civilians, loaded them into the back, and pulled away to safety.
As the rescue mission went underway, gunman Larry Phillips continued to flee down Archwood Street, exchanging fire with police in hot pursuit.
Phillips strode quickly down the sidewalk, heading towards a parked truck trailer on the side of the road. Officer John Caprarelli, a 15-year veteran of the LAPD, sprinted forward to cut off Phillips. Aiming his Beretta M92 at the gunman, Caprarelli quickly fired six pistol rounds at Phillips. One round struck Phillips in the left hand, right in between his thumb and index finger, ripping through the tendons. It wasn't a serious wound, but it would later play a crucial role in how the shootout would unfold.
Phillips, however, was far from incapacitated. He simply spun around and shot a burst of automatic fire at Caprarelli, sending the officer running for cover.
As Phillips continued to flee down the sidewalk, LAPD Detective Vincent Bancroft exited an unmarked police car nearby. Spotting Phillips running for the truck trailer, Bancroft aimed his Ithaca 37 at the robber and fired three shotgun blasts, shattering the windows of a nearby parked sedan. Officer Caprarelli again joined in, firing the remaining nine rounds from his pistol at Phillips. One 9mm round struck Phillips under the right shoulder, shattering his collarbone, severing his subclavian artery, and lodging in his back.
This wound was serious; Phillips could potentially die if he didn't receive treatment for the injury. But, in the heat of the battle and full of adrenaline, Phillips seemed to have hardly noticed the wound, and, unfazed, he continued to fight.
Phillips once again began spraying automatic fire towards Bancroft and Caprarelli. Bancroft ducked behind his car, while Caprarelli, out of bullets, ran for cover and crouched behind a parked sedan to reload his pistol. Having sent the police running, Phillips ducked behind the truck trailer.
But it was here that Phillips discovered another problem. His AK-47 had suffered a malfunction known as a "stovepipe jam". One of the bullet casings had been caught in the rifle's ejection chamber. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue. All Phillips had to do was pull the casing out of the ejection chamber with his thumb and he could resume firing his weapon.
But Phillips' wound to his left hand, which he had sustained just minutes earlier, had left his thumb limp and useless. He tried and tried to knock the casing out, but it was to no avail. His thumb was totally useless, and the casing was firmly lodged in the ejection port. Cursing his weapon, Phillips discarded the jammed assault rifle on the ground.
But Phillips still wasn't done. Still taking cover behind the trailer, the robber reached into his jacket and pulled out a 9mm Beretta M92 handgun. It was the exact same model as those used by the LAPD. Now, Phillips and the police were evenly matched. The pistol wasn't an AK-47, yes, but it was still a gun and it was still deadly. Phillips still had a chance to make his escape.
As police closed in on the trailer, Phillips emerged. He again spotted Officer Caprarelli, who had reloaded his pistol and was crouching by a parked car. Raising his middle finger with one hand and his pistol with the other, Phillips aimed his Beretta at Caprarelli and began shooting. For a few seconds, Caprarelli and Phillips exchanged fire, with Caprarelli getting off six more rounds at Phillips. One round struck Phillips in the right hand, causing him to drop his gun.
Stooping over to pick up his weapon, Phillips suddenly hesitated. He suddenly seemed to come to a realization. There was no way out. There was no escape. Police were everywhere, closing in on his position, and all he had was a pistol.
Phillips knew that, if he was captured, he would never be a free man again. If he was lucky, he'd go to prison for life, but it was just as likely he would be sent to death row for the murder of the armored car guard.
Phillips had vowed never to be taken alive by the police again. Now, he would follow through on his promise.
Standing up, Phillips pressed the barrel of his Beretta underneath his chin, raised his head upward, and fired. The bullet tore through his jaw and tongue, punched through the roof of his mouth, shredded his brain, and exited the top of his skull, spraying a cloud of bloody mist in its wake. The robber dropped to his knees, keeled over to the side, and collapsed to the ground. As he fell, police shot him once in the spine and twice in the torso.
Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. was dead.
But his partner was still alive, heavily armed, and on the run.
In the meantime, three blocks west of where Phillips lay dead, Emil Matasareanu was limping his car forward up Archwood Boulevard, heading directly through an upscale neighborhood. With the car's tires shot out and the windshield pockmarked with bullet holes, Matasareanu knew he needed to find another getaway vehicle.
Soon, he came upon a red Ford Tempo heading the opposite direction on the road. Immediately, Matasareanu swerved his car into the path of the Tempo, trying to force it off the road. The angry driver of the Tempo began honking his horn.
Almost immediately, the Tempo's driver noticed that the white car was riddled with shots. Seeing an angry, black-masked bandit glaring at him, the Tempo's driver threw his car into reverse and backed away as fast as he could.
Matasareanu exited the car from the passenger's side as the Tempo backed up. He waved his fist in the air, then aimed his AK-47 at the driver and fired a two-shot burst, which missed.
Slamming the passenger door shut, Matasareanu limped his way around the front of his car. At that point, he looked back, where he saw Phillips lying dead on the side of the road. Nobody knows what went through Matasareanu's mind when he saw his dead friend, his only friend, lying motionless on the sidewalk. Matasareanu stared at Phillips for a few seconds, then got back in through the driver's side, and continued to drive up Archwood, determined to ditch his shot-up Chevy for another vehicle.
It was too late to save his friend. Now Matasareanu had to save his own life.
Crossing through an intersection, Matasareanu continued west, coming to a four-way stop. There, he lurched his car forward into the opposite lane. When another driver honked at him, Matasareanu swerved his car to the side, ramming the other driver in an attempt to force him off the road. He was unsuccessful, and the car quickly sped away.
Finally, Matasareanu came upon a brown pickup truck, driven by Bill Marr. Marr noticed the bullet-riddled Chevy blocking his path and stopped his car. It took only seconds for Marr to notice the black-masked bandit staring back at him. Immediately, Marr threw his truck into reverse.
But Matasareanu was not going to let the truck get away. Aiming his AK-47, Matasareanu fired a three-round burst through the windshield of his Chevy. The rounds shattered the windshield and back window of Marr's truck, showering him with broken glass.
Bleeding from his face, Marr stopped his truck, jumped out, and ran for his life.
Matasareanu pulled up next to the abandoned truck. He got out of his car and looked inside the vehicle. The keys were still in the ignition. Satisfied, he walked over to the back of his shot-out Chevy and opened the trunk.
Matasareanu transferred two weapons into the truck from his car, including a .223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle. Like the AK-47s, the Bushmaster also had a 100-round magazine and had been converted to fully-automatic fire.
As he transferred his weapons, Matasareanu noticed a police car driving towards him. He aimed and fired one shot from his AK-47 at the approaching squad car, then climbed inside Marr's truck and shut the door. Matasareanu couldn't linger for too much longer. If SWAT arrived, he could be outgunned and trapped.
Matasareanu quickly turned the keys in the truck's ignition, but, instead of roaring to life, the engine sputtered and then went dead. Matasareanu tried again to start the truck, but again, the truck's engine refused to turn on. Before fleeing his truck, Marr had left his keys behind but had manually shut off the vehicle's fuel pump, rendering it incapable of starting. Matasareanu's getaway car gambit had failed.
At that point, a squad car sped down Archwood St. directly towards Matasareanu. But this patrol car wasn't carrying regular police officers; this was the feared LAPD SWAT team. The SWAT officers wore special body armor and were armed with semi-automatic .223-caliber CAR-15 rifles, with 20 and 30-round magazines. They were better equipped to deal with Matasareanu.
Matasareanu was trapped with no way to escape. His fate had been sealed. He could have surrendered right then and there and ended the shootout without further bloodshed. But, even now, the robber seemed determined not to go down without a fight.
As the car raced forward, Matasareanu grabbed the XM-15 rifle, still loaded with a 100-round drum magazine, exited Marr's truck, and ran around to the front of the shot-up Chevy. There he crouched behind the front bumper right as the squad car ground to a halt just 30 feet away. As the car came to a halt, SWAT officers began firing shots at Matasareanu as he took cover, but they all missed. Matasareanu immediately aimed his XM-15 at the squad car and began shooting. He held down the rifle's trigger for at least five seconds, spraying a barrage of deadly automatic gunfire at the SWAT team as they exited their car.
Pinned down, the SWAT team shot back with their CAR-15 rifles, firing rounds at Matasareanu through the windows of Bill Marr's truck.
The return fire forced Matasareanu to practically lie flat across the hood to avoid being hit. Nevertheless, he continued to shower the area with automatic gunfire, determined to fight to the death.
As Matasareanu continued to spray bullets at the SWAT team, SWAT officer Don Anderson leaned up from behind Marr's truck, aimed his rifle at the gunman, and fired two quick shots. The bullets slammed into Matasareanu's chest, knocking him to the ground, but the metal trauma plate he was wearing saved his life. Within seconds, Matasareanu got back up and again began firing a barrage of shots at the SWAT team through the windshield of his damaged Chevy, sweeping his rifle back and forth as he indiscriminately sprayed rounds at the officers.
At this point, SWAT officer Anderson's CAR-15 rifle jammed. He immediately dropped to the ground to clear the jam, lying on the pavement. As he cleared his rifle, Anderson could see underneath the cars, and he noticed a serious flaw in Matasareanu's armor; the gunman was wearing no protection on his lower legs.
Re-inserting his 30-round magazine into his rifle, Anderson aimed his gun under the car, pointing the barrel at Matasareanu's feet. The gunman was too busy firing at the other SWAT officers to notice Anderson. He had no idea what was about to happen.
Anderson fired a single .223 caliber round. The bullet struck Matasareanu right below his left knee and exited his calf, shattering his leg bone at the kneecap. As the gunman slumped to the ground, Anderson fired three more shots, striking Matasareanu three times in the left thigh, with two bullets tearing through several leg arteries and veins.
Despite his injuries, Matasareanu continued to fire his assault rifle at the police. He was determined to go down, guns blazing.
Other SWAT officers soon followed Anderson's example, and began shooting at Matasareanu from underneath the vehicles. At least thirteen more bullets slammed into Matasareanu's legs and lower body.
Matasareanu collapsed to the ground. In a final display of defiance, he laid his gun on the ground and let loose a burst of gunfire underneath the vehicles, blindly shooting at the SWAT team and forcing the officers to jump up out of the way.
As Matasareanu fired underneath the vehicles, he left the top of his body exposed. Another SWAT officer took this chance. Aiming at Matasareanu, he fired four shots from his rifle, hitting the gunman three times in the forearm and once in the thumb. As Matasareanu leaned up to return fire, four more shots fired from under the vehicle struck him in the left thigh, left leg, and in the buttocks.
Matasareanu was finished. He had been shot over 40 times, including twenty-nine times in his legs, and was losing blood fast. Dropping his nearly empty XM15, Matasareanu leaned against the Chevy and raised his hands in surrender. He was giving up.
SWAT officers cautiously approached, unsure if Matasareanu still had a weapon.
"Put your hands up! Hands where I can see them!", yelled the SWAT officers. "Roll over! On your stomach!".
One SWAT officer kicked Matasareanu, knocking him face-down on the pavement. "Don't move!", he yelled at the wounded gunman, pressing the barrel of his rifle against the back of Matasareanu's head.
Dozens of LAPD officers swarmed forward, encircling the suspect and kicking away his automatic weapon. The officers pinned Matasareanu down to the ground, handcuffed him, and removed his mask, exposing his bloodied, sweaty face. "What's your name?", yelled a SWAT officer. "Pete", responded Matasareanu, giving the officers a false name.
The officers needed to know if there were any more gunmen. When they asked Matasareanu if there were any more gunmen, the suspect began to laugh.
"Fuck you!", snarled Matasareanu. He tried to provoke the police into killing him. "Shoot me in the head!", he screamed. "Shoot me in the head, you fucking pigs!". The policemen ignored him and went back to the bank, leaving two SWAT officers to watch over the suspect.
The officers noticed that Matasareanu was bleeding badly. They called for an ambulance, but, due to the chaos of the shootout, all ambulances had been held back until the scene was declared safe.
As a result, Emil Matasareanu lay bleeding on the ground for another sixty-five minutes before he finally succumbed to his injuries. He joined Larry Phillips, his partner and his only friend, in death.
44 minutes after it began, the North Hollywood shootout was over. Over 1,750 rounds had been fired (approximately 1,100 by the suspects and 650 by the police). Property damage was estimated to be well over $1,000,000. It was the largest police shootout in the United States since the LAPD-SLA shootout in 1974.
Amazingly, although over 18 officers and civilians were seriously wounded during the incident, the only deaths resulting from the shootout were those of the two gunmen. It was a minor miracle in an otherwise horrific day.
Ironically, it was later discovered that, in the heat of the shootout, Phillips and Matasareanu had abandoned the duffel bag full of money they had stolen from the Bank of America.
When police recovered the duffel bag, they found that, sometime during the incident, the dye packs placed in the bag by manager John Villagrana had exploded, ruining all of the stolen cash.
If there is one lesson we should take away from the North Hollywood shootout, it is this: Like it or not, America's law enforcement needs to be heavily armed.
In recent years, America has seen a spate of shootings of unarmed black men by police. In response, many in the black community and on the left have been calling for major reform in law enforcement.
Now, most people in this crowd have sensible demands and propose sensible solutions. But in this crowd there is also a group of ignorant, misinformed people who are blinded by runaway political correctness and have a distorted sense of reality.
These people scream about America becoming a tyrannical "police state", where heavily-armed, racist, violent, and trigger-happy cops roam the streets, kicking down doors and freely shooting black people.
The solution, they say, is, among other things, to "demilitarize" America's police forces. No officer, they say, should have an assault rifle or a machine gun. No police department, they say, needs a tank or a military vehicle. So what weapons should the police carry? Well, some proponents of police demilitarization claim that officers should carry revolvers or handguns. Others say police should carry no weapon at all, like police in Britain do.
But this is not a realistic solution. It is an ignorant, naive fairy tale. Why? Because these people seem to completely ignore the fact that, in the United States, criminal access to guns is much more prevalent than anywhere else in the world. If the police are disarmed, then it will be the public, including criminals, who will have the superior firepower.
The North Hollywood shootout demonstrated this. Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu were able to obtain an arsenal of powerful weaponry, bypassing all legal obstacles to get them. Phillips, a convicted criminal, was barred from owning weapons, and, at the time, the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, barring the sale of high-capacity magazines and guns like the AK-47. Yet this didn't stop Phillips and Matasareanu. They obtained half-a-dozen fully-automatic assault rifles, thousands of rounds of armor piercing ammunition, many high-capacity magazines, and wore body armor that was more potent than those issued to police.
The robbers completely outgunned the LAPD, who had neither the firepower, body armor, or even vehicles to deal with them. It was a minor miracle that the gunmen were taken down without killing anyone, and they were fully prepared to massacre anyone who stood in their way. No matter how many regulations and laws one can put into place, there will be some criminals who will be able to obtain illegal firearms.
The events that landed the LAPD in this situation were almost identical to the issues plaguing law enforcement today. The political climate that surrounded American law enforcement in the 1990s was volatile, especially in Los Angeles. Just five years earlier, the city of Los Angeles had suffered violent race riots after LAPD officers brutally beat a black man, Rodney King, nearly killing him in the process.
In the wake of this and other race-related incidents between the LAPD and the black community, political pressure from African-American and liberal activists had called for an end to police militarization, and, through a series of public and legal actions, they prevented law enforcement from obtaining more powerful and more potent weaponry. In the meantime, however, street criminals began acquiring more and more powerful weapons, such as machine guns and assault rifles. This left the LAPD under-armed, outmatched, and outgunned when they faced heavily-armed criminals like the High-Incident Bandits.
There is undoubtedly a common problem with police officers beating, harassing, and killing minorities in America. There absolutely must be some reform in American law enforcement. Police need to be vetted more thoroughly, be held more accountable for their actions, and need to be taught how to make proper judgements in certain scenarios.
But demilitarizing the police will not fix these problems. If anything, they will make them worse. Police need to be able to keep up with criminals, and that includes having the firepower and the equipment to stop them. Take that away, and we would be putting not just police lives in danger, but we would be endangering the rest of the public as well.
So, to those in the American public crying out for the police to be demilitarized, I have this to say to them:
You first.
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| Matasareanu drives the getaway car while Larry Phillips shoots at police |
Police knew that if the robbers escaped from the parking lot, they would enter into the residential neighborhoods in North Hollywood, where civilians would be caught in the crossfire. Desperate to stop the vehicle, LAPD officers began firing at the car. They shot out all four tires on the car, sent dozens of rounds through the engine block, and riddled the windshield with bullet holes. Incredibly, however, the vehicle continued to limp forward, with Phillips and Matasareanu laying down a withering barrage of steel bullets as they tried to flee. The car limped out of the parking lot and onto Archwood Street.
Abruptly, and probably because he noticed a police roadblock covering one of the exits, Phillips split from Matasareanu at this point, running on foot down a nearby road. He reloaded his AK-47 with another 100-round drum magazine and, advancing along a sidewalk, he continued to shoot bursts of automatic gunfire at pursuing police.
All the while, the badly wounded officer Martin Whitfield still lay bleeding behind the tree where he fell. Whitfield had been calling for help for several minutes, but by now he had lost consciousness. He was minutes away from death, and, because of the gunfire, none of the police were able to reach him.
At this point, incredibly, the armored car that Phillips and Matasareanu had originally intended to rob arrived at the bank. The two guards inside the truck were dumbfounded to have found themselves in the middle of an intense shootout, but their arrival gave the LAPD officers an idea. The 15-ton steel truck was heavily armored and could withstand larger caliber bullets than the LAPD squad cars. The decision was made to have officers commandeer the truck and use it to rescue Whitfield.
A team of SWAT officers stopped the truck, climbed in the back, and ordered the guards to drive over to the tree where Whitfield lay. As the armored car lumbered forward, the robbers began shooting at it. Bullets hammered into the side of the truck, but the thick armor protected the SWAT officers inside. They reached Whitfield, who by now had lost almost all of his blood, picked him up, and placed him in the back of the armored car.
The next objective was to rescue the two wounded civilians lying behind officer Dean Haynes' squad car. Again braving the gunfire, the armored car drove up to Haynes' patrol cruiser, where they rescued the two wounded civilians, loaded them into the back, and pulled away to safety.
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| LAPD officers rescue the two wounded civilians using their commandeered armored car |
One Down, One to Go
As the rescue mission went underway, gunman Larry Phillips continued to flee down Archwood Street, exchanging fire with police in hot pursuit.
Phillips strode quickly down the sidewalk, heading towards a parked truck trailer on the side of the road. Officer John Caprarelli, a 15-year veteran of the LAPD, sprinted forward to cut off Phillips. Aiming his Beretta M92 at the gunman, Caprarelli quickly fired six pistol rounds at Phillips. One round struck Phillips in the left hand, right in between his thumb and index finger, ripping through the tendons. It wasn't a serious wound, but it would later play a crucial role in how the shootout would unfold.
Phillips, however, was far from incapacitated. He simply spun around and shot a burst of automatic fire at Caprarelli, sending the officer running for cover.
As Phillips continued to flee down the sidewalk, LAPD Detective Vincent Bancroft exited an unmarked police car nearby. Spotting Phillips running for the truck trailer, Bancroft aimed his Ithaca 37 at the robber and fired three shotgun blasts, shattering the windows of a nearby parked sedan. Officer Caprarelli again joined in, firing the remaining nine rounds from his pistol at Phillips. One 9mm round struck Phillips under the right shoulder, shattering his collarbone, severing his subclavian artery, and lodging in his back.
This wound was serious; Phillips could potentially die if he didn't receive treatment for the injury. But, in the heat of the battle and full of adrenaline, Phillips seemed to have hardly noticed the wound, and, unfazed, he continued to fight.
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| Larry Phillips fires at pursuing policemen as he retreats down Archwood Street |
But it was here that Phillips discovered another problem. His AK-47 had suffered a malfunction known as a "stovepipe jam". One of the bullet casings had been caught in the rifle's ejection chamber. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue. All Phillips had to do was pull the casing out of the ejection chamber with his thumb and he could resume firing his weapon.
But Phillips' wound to his left hand, which he had sustained just minutes earlier, had left his thumb limp and useless. He tried and tried to knock the casing out, but it was to no avail. His thumb was totally useless, and the casing was firmly lodged in the ejection port. Cursing his weapon, Phillips discarded the jammed assault rifle on the ground.
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| Larry Phillips' jammed AK-47, with a bullet casing caught in the ejection chamber |
But Phillips still wasn't done. Still taking cover behind the trailer, the robber reached into his jacket and pulled out a 9mm Beretta M92 handgun. It was the exact same model as those used by the LAPD. Now, Phillips and the police were evenly matched. The pistol wasn't an AK-47, yes, but it was still a gun and it was still deadly. Phillips still had a chance to make his escape.
As police closed in on the trailer, Phillips emerged. He again spotted Officer Caprarelli, who had reloaded his pistol and was crouching by a parked car. Raising his middle finger with one hand and his pistol with the other, Phillips aimed his Beretta at Caprarelli and began shooting. For a few seconds, Caprarelli and Phillips exchanged fire, with Caprarelli getting off six more rounds at Phillips. One round struck Phillips in the right hand, causing him to drop his gun.
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| Phillips fires his pistol at Caprarelli |
Stooping over to pick up his weapon, Phillips suddenly hesitated. He suddenly seemed to come to a realization. There was no way out. There was no escape. Police were everywhere, closing in on his position, and all he had was a pistol.
Phillips knew that, if he was captured, he would never be a free man again. If he was lucky, he'd go to prison for life, but it was just as likely he would be sent to death row for the murder of the armored car guard.
Phillips had vowed never to be taken alive by the police again. Now, he would follow through on his promise.
Standing up, Phillips pressed the barrel of his Beretta underneath his chin, raised his head upward, and fired. The bullet tore through his jaw and tongue, punched through the roof of his mouth, shredded his brain, and exited the top of his skull, spraying a cloud of bloody mist in its wake. The robber dropped to his knees, keeled over to the side, and collapsed to the ground. As he fell, police shot him once in the spine and twice in the torso.
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| Larry Phillips lies dead on the ground |
Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. was dead.
But his partner was still alive, heavily armed, and on the run.
Endgame
In the meantime, three blocks west of where Phillips lay dead, Emil Matasareanu was limping his car forward up Archwood Boulevard, heading directly through an upscale neighborhood. With the car's tires shot out and the windshield pockmarked with bullet holes, Matasareanu knew he needed to find another getaway vehicle.
Soon, he came upon a red Ford Tempo heading the opposite direction on the road. Immediately, Matasareanu swerved his car into the path of the Tempo, trying to force it off the road. The angry driver of the Tempo began honking his horn.
Almost immediately, the Tempo's driver noticed that the white car was riddled with shots. Seeing an angry, black-masked bandit glaring at him, the Tempo's driver threw his car into reverse and backed away as fast as he could.
Matasareanu exited the car from the passenger's side as the Tempo backed up. He waved his fist in the air, then aimed his AK-47 at the driver and fired a two-shot burst, which missed.
Slamming the passenger door shut, Matasareanu limped his way around the front of his car. At that point, he looked back, where he saw Phillips lying dead on the side of the road. Nobody knows what went through Matasareanu's mind when he saw his dead friend, his only friend, lying motionless on the sidewalk. Matasareanu stared at Phillips for a few seconds, then got back in through the driver's side, and continued to drive up Archwood, determined to ditch his shot-up Chevy for another vehicle.
It was too late to save his friend. Now Matasareanu had to save his own life.
Crossing through an intersection, Matasareanu continued west, coming to a four-way stop. There, he lurched his car forward into the opposite lane. When another driver honked at him, Matasareanu swerved his car to the side, ramming the other driver in an attempt to force him off the road. He was unsuccessful, and the car quickly sped away.
Finally, Matasareanu came upon a brown pickup truck, driven by Bill Marr. Marr noticed the bullet-riddled Chevy blocking his path and stopped his car. It took only seconds for Marr to notice the black-masked bandit staring back at him. Immediately, Marr threw his truck into reverse.
But Matasareanu was not going to let the truck get away. Aiming his AK-47, Matasareanu fired a three-round burst through the windshield of his Chevy. The rounds shattered the windshield and back window of Marr's truck, showering him with broken glass.
Bleeding from his face, Marr stopped his truck, jumped out, and ran for his life.
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| Matasareanu fires at Bill Marr through the windshield of the Chevy |
Matasareanu pulled up next to the abandoned truck. He got out of his car and looked inside the vehicle. The keys were still in the ignition. Satisfied, he walked over to the back of his shot-out Chevy and opened the trunk.
Matasareanu transferred two weapons into the truck from his car, including a .223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle. Like the AK-47s, the Bushmaster also had a 100-round magazine and had been converted to fully-automatic fire.
As he transferred his weapons, Matasareanu noticed a police car driving towards him. He aimed and fired one shot from his AK-47 at the approaching squad car, then climbed inside Marr's truck and shut the door. Matasareanu couldn't linger for too much longer. If SWAT arrived, he could be outgunned and trapped.
Matasareanu quickly turned the keys in the truck's ignition, but, instead of roaring to life, the engine sputtered and then went dead. Matasareanu tried again to start the truck, but again, the truck's engine refused to turn on. Before fleeing his truck, Marr had left his keys behind but had manually shut off the vehicle's fuel pump, rendering it incapable of starting. Matasareanu's getaway car gambit had failed.
At that point, a squad car sped down Archwood St. directly towards Matasareanu. But this patrol car wasn't carrying regular police officers; this was the feared LAPD SWAT team. The SWAT officers wore special body armor and were armed with semi-automatic .223-caliber CAR-15 rifles, with 20 and 30-round magazines. They were better equipped to deal with Matasareanu.
Matasareanu was trapped with no way to escape. His fate had been sealed. He could have surrendered right then and there and ended the shootout without further bloodshed. But, even now, the robber seemed determined not to go down without a fight.
As the car raced forward, Matasareanu grabbed the XM-15 rifle, still loaded with a 100-round drum magazine, exited Marr's truck, and ran around to the front of the shot-up Chevy. There he crouched behind the front bumper right as the squad car ground to a halt just 30 feet away. As the car came to a halt, SWAT officers began firing shots at Matasareanu as he took cover, but they all missed. Matasareanu immediately aimed his XM-15 at the squad car and began shooting. He held down the rifle's trigger for at least five seconds, spraying a barrage of deadly automatic gunfire at the SWAT team as they exited their car.
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| Matasareanu opens fire on the SWAT team from behind the hood of the white Chevy |
Pinned down, the SWAT team shot back with their CAR-15 rifles, firing rounds at Matasareanu through the windows of Bill Marr's truck.
The return fire forced Matasareanu to practically lie flat across the hood to avoid being hit. Nevertheless, he continued to shower the area with automatic gunfire, determined to fight to the death.
As Matasareanu continued to spray bullets at the SWAT team, SWAT officer Don Anderson leaned up from behind Marr's truck, aimed his rifle at the gunman, and fired two quick shots. The bullets slammed into Matasareanu's chest, knocking him to the ground, but the metal trauma plate he was wearing saved his life. Within seconds, Matasareanu got back up and again began firing a barrage of shots at the SWAT team through the windshield of his damaged Chevy, sweeping his rifle back and forth as he indiscriminately sprayed rounds at the officers.
At this point, SWAT officer Anderson's CAR-15 rifle jammed. He immediately dropped to the ground to clear the jam, lying on the pavement. As he cleared his rifle, Anderson could see underneath the cars, and he noticed a serious flaw in Matasareanu's armor; the gunman was wearing no protection on his lower legs.
Re-inserting his 30-round magazine into his rifle, Anderson aimed his gun under the car, pointing the barrel at Matasareanu's feet. The gunman was too busy firing at the other SWAT officers to notice Anderson. He had no idea what was about to happen.
Anderson fired a single .223 caliber round. The bullet struck Matasareanu right below his left knee and exited his calf, shattering his leg bone at the kneecap. As the gunman slumped to the ground, Anderson fired three more shots, striking Matasareanu three times in the left thigh, with two bullets tearing through several leg arteries and veins.
Despite his injuries, Matasareanu continued to fire his assault rifle at the police. He was determined to go down, guns blazing.
Other SWAT officers soon followed Anderson's example, and began shooting at Matasareanu from underneath the vehicles. At least thirteen more bullets slammed into Matasareanu's legs and lower body.
Matasareanu collapsed to the ground. In a final display of defiance, he laid his gun on the ground and let loose a burst of gunfire underneath the vehicles, blindly shooting at the SWAT team and forcing the officers to jump up out of the way.
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| Having been wounded in the legs, Matasareanu fires his XM15 at the SWAT officers under the vehicles |
As Matasareanu fired underneath the vehicles, he left the top of his body exposed. Another SWAT officer took this chance. Aiming at Matasareanu, he fired four shots from his rifle, hitting the gunman three times in the forearm and once in the thumb. As Matasareanu leaned up to return fire, four more shots fired from under the vehicle struck him in the left thigh, left leg, and in the buttocks.
Matasareanu was finished. He had been shot over 40 times, including twenty-nine times in his legs, and was losing blood fast. Dropping his nearly empty XM15, Matasareanu leaned against the Chevy and raised his hands in surrender. He was giving up.
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| Badly wounded, Emil Matasareanu surrenders to the LAPD SWAT team |
SWAT officers cautiously approached, unsure if Matasareanu still had a weapon.
"Put your hands up! Hands where I can see them!", yelled the SWAT officers. "Roll over! On your stomach!".
One SWAT officer kicked Matasareanu, knocking him face-down on the pavement. "Don't move!", he yelled at the wounded gunman, pressing the barrel of his rifle against the back of Matasareanu's head.
Dozens of LAPD officers swarmed forward, encircling the suspect and kicking away his automatic weapon. The officers pinned Matasareanu down to the ground, handcuffed him, and removed his mask, exposing his bloodied, sweaty face. "What's your name?", yelled a SWAT officer. "Pete", responded Matasareanu, giving the officers a false name.
The officers needed to know if there were any more gunmen. When they asked Matasareanu if there were any more gunmen, the suspect began to laugh.
"Fuck you!", snarled Matasareanu. He tried to provoke the police into killing him. "Shoot me in the head!", he screamed. "Shoot me in the head, you fucking pigs!". The policemen ignored him and went back to the bank, leaving two SWAT officers to watch over the suspect.
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| SWAT officers take Matasareanu into custody. |
The officers noticed that Matasareanu was bleeding badly. They called for an ambulance, but, due to the chaos of the shootout, all ambulances had been held back until the scene was declared safe.
As a result, Emil Matasareanu lay bleeding on the ground for another sixty-five minutes before he finally succumbed to his injuries. He joined Larry Phillips, his partner and his only friend, in death.
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| Emil Matasareanu lies wounded on the ground. He would die approximately an hour later. |
44 minutes after it began, the North Hollywood shootout was over. Over 1,750 rounds had been fired (approximately 1,100 by the suspects and 650 by the police). Property damage was estimated to be well over $1,000,000. It was the largest police shootout in the United States since the LAPD-SLA shootout in 1974.
Amazingly, although over 18 officers and civilians were seriously wounded during the incident, the only deaths resulting from the shootout were those of the two gunmen. It was a minor miracle in an otherwise horrific day.
Ironically, it was later discovered that, in the heat of the shootout, Phillips and Matasareanu had abandoned the duffel bag full of money they had stolen from the Bank of America.
When police recovered the duffel bag, they found that, sometime during the incident, the dye packs placed in the bag by manager John Villagrana had exploded, ruining all of the stolen cash.
Aftermath: Why we Need a Militarized Police Force
If there is one lesson we should take away from the North Hollywood shootout, it is this: Like it or not, America's law enforcement needs to be heavily armed.
In recent years, America has seen a spate of shootings of unarmed black men by police. In response, many in the black community and on the left have been calling for major reform in law enforcement.
Now, most people in this crowd have sensible demands and propose sensible solutions. But in this crowd there is also a group of ignorant, misinformed people who are blinded by runaway political correctness and have a distorted sense of reality.
These people scream about America becoming a tyrannical "police state", where heavily-armed, racist, violent, and trigger-happy cops roam the streets, kicking down doors and freely shooting black people.
The solution, they say, is, among other things, to "demilitarize" America's police forces. No officer, they say, should have an assault rifle or a machine gun. No police department, they say, needs a tank or a military vehicle. So what weapons should the police carry? Well, some proponents of police demilitarization claim that officers should carry revolvers or handguns. Others say police should carry no weapon at all, like police in Britain do.
But this is not a realistic solution. It is an ignorant, naive fairy tale. Why? Because these people seem to completely ignore the fact that, in the United States, criminal access to guns is much more prevalent than anywhere else in the world. If the police are disarmed, then it will be the public, including criminals, who will have the superior firepower.
The North Hollywood shootout demonstrated this. Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu were able to obtain an arsenal of powerful weaponry, bypassing all legal obstacles to get them. Phillips, a convicted criminal, was barred from owning weapons, and, at the time, the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, barring the sale of high-capacity magazines and guns like the AK-47. Yet this didn't stop Phillips and Matasareanu. They obtained half-a-dozen fully-automatic assault rifles, thousands of rounds of armor piercing ammunition, many high-capacity magazines, and wore body armor that was more potent than those issued to police.
The robbers completely outgunned the LAPD, who had neither the firepower, body armor, or even vehicles to deal with them. It was a minor miracle that the gunmen were taken down without killing anyone, and they were fully prepared to massacre anyone who stood in their way. No matter how many regulations and laws one can put into place, there will be some criminals who will be able to obtain illegal firearms.
The events that landed the LAPD in this situation were almost identical to the issues plaguing law enforcement today. The political climate that surrounded American law enforcement in the 1990s was volatile, especially in Los Angeles. Just five years earlier, the city of Los Angeles had suffered violent race riots after LAPD officers brutally beat a black man, Rodney King, nearly killing him in the process.
In the wake of this and other race-related incidents between the LAPD and the black community, political pressure from African-American and liberal activists had called for an end to police militarization, and, through a series of public and legal actions, they prevented law enforcement from obtaining more powerful and more potent weaponry. In the meantime, however, street criminals began acquiring more and more powerful weapons, such as machine guns and assault rifles. This left the LAPD under-armed, outmatched, and outgunned when they faced heavily-armed criminals like the High-Incident Bandits.
There is undoubtedly a common problem with police officers beating, harassing, and killing minorities in America. There absolutely must be some reform in American law enforcement. Police need to be vetted more thoroughly, be held more accountable for their actions, and need to be taught how to make proper judgements in certain scenarios.
But demilitarizing the police will not fix these problems. If anything, they will make them worse. Police need to be able to keep up with criminals, and that includes having the firepower and the equipment to stop them. Take that away, and we would be putting not just police lives in danger, but we would be endangering the rest of the public as well.
So, to those in the American public crying out for the police to be demilitarized, I have this to say to them:
You first.
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