North Hollywood shootout

North Hollywood shootout
Larry Phillips Jr. (left) and Emil Mătăsăreanu (right) in 1993 after being arrested in Glendale for driving a stolen vehicle
Location	North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. 34°11′29″N 118°23′46″W / 34.19139°N 118.39611°W / 34.19139; -118.39611
Date	February 28, 1997; 27 years ago (1997-02-28) 9:16–10:01 a.m. (UTC−8)
Target	A branch of the Bank of America
Attack type	Bank robbery, shootout, mass shooting, evasion from law enforcement
Weapons	Phillips: Norinco Type 56 S, Norinco Type 56 S-1, Heckler & Koch HK91, Beretta 92FS Mătăsăreanu: Bushmaster XM-15 E2S Dissipator, Norinco Type 56 S
Deaths	2 (both perpetrators)
Injured	20 (12 officers, 8 civilians)[1]
Perpetrators	Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. and Decebal Ștefan Emilian "Emil" Mătăsăreanu
Motive	Robbery

The North Hollywood shootout, also known as the Battle of North Hollywood,^[2] was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and police officers in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997. Both robbers were killed, twelve police officers and eight civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the robbers and police.^[1]

At 9:16 a.m., Phillips and Mătăsăreanu entered and robbed Bank of America's North Hollywood branch. The robbers were confronted by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers when they exited the bank and a shootout between the officers and robbers ensued. The robbers attempted to flee the scene, Phillips on foot and Mătăsăreanu in their getaway vehicle, while continuing to exchange fire with the officers. The shootout continued onto a residential street adjacent to the bank until Phillips, mortally wounded, killed himself; Mătăsăreanu was incapacitated by officers three blocks away and bled to death before the arrival of paramedics more than an hour later.

Phillips and Mătăsăreanu had robbed at least two other banks previously, using similar methods involving using their automatic rifles to get past security doors, taking control of the entire bank, and firing weapons illegally obtained and capable of fully automatic fire. They were also suspects in two armored car robberies.^[3]

Standard-issue sidearms carried by most local patrol officers at the time were 9mm pistols or .38 Special revolvers; some patrol cars were also equipped with a 12-gauge shotgun. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu carried Norinco Type 56 rifles (a Chinese AK-47 variant) and a Bushmaster XM-15 Dissipator with a 100-round drum magazine, both of which had been illegally modified to be select-fire capable, as well as a Heckler & Koch HK91 rifle and a Beretta 92FS pistol. The robbers wore homemade body armor which successfully protected them from handgun rounds and shotgun pellets fired by the responding officers. An LAPD Metropolitan Division SWAT team eventually arrived with higher-power weapons, but they had little effect on the heavy body armor used by the two perpetrators. The SWAT team also commandeered an armored car to evacuate the wounded. Several officers additionally equipped themselves with rifles from a nearby firearms dealer. The incident sparked debate on the need for patrol officers to upgrade their firepower in preparation for similar situations in the future.^[1]

Due to the large number of injuries and rounds fired, equipment used by the robbers, and overall length of the shootout, it is regarded as one of the most intense and significant gun battles in U.S. police history.^[4] Combined, the two robbers had fired approximately 1,100 rounds in total, while approximately 650 rounds were fired by police.^[5] Another estimate is that a total of nearly 2,000 rounds were fired collectively.^[1]