The Best Shootout Ever! (North Hollywood 1997)

The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997. Both perpetrators were killed, eleven police officers and seven civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the perpetrators and the police.
At approximately 9:30 am (UTC-8), Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu entered and robbed the North Hollywood Bank of America branch. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu were confronted by dozens of LAPD officers when they exited the bank and a shootout between the officers and robbers ensued. The two robbers attempted to flee the scene, Phillips on foot and Mătăsăreanu in their getaway vehicle, while continuing to engage the officers. The shootout continued onto a residential street adjacent to the bank until Phillips was mortally wounded, including by a self-inflicted gunshot wound; Mătăsăreanu was killed by officers three blocks away. In addition to the two perpetrators, eleven officers and seven civilians sustained injuries. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu had robbed several armored vehicles prior to their attempt in North Hollywood and were notorious for their heavy armament, which included automatic rifles.
Local patrol officers at the time were typically armed with 9 mm or .38 Special pistols on their person, with some having a 12-gauge shotgun available in their cars. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu carried fully automatic rifles, with ammunition capable of penetrating police body armor, and wore military grade body armor of their own. Since the police handguns could not penetrate the bank robbers' body armor, the patrol officers' efforts were ineffective. SWAT eventually arrived with weapons that could penetrate and several officers also appropriated AR-15 rifles from a nearby firearms dealer. The incident sparked debate on the appropriate firepower for patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future. Due to the large number of casualties, rounds fired, weapons used and overall length of the shootout, it is regarded as the longest and bloodiest event in US police history.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• north
• hollywood
• shootout
• 1997
• worlds
• scariest
• police
• shootouts

[Vernonu9]

The Enemy has Juggernauts

[rimwrangler]

@LALOMAN18 You would do well to think about it from another perspective, my friend. A small group of people know how to perpetually control millions of people WITHOUT force (most of the time, anyway). It would take you so long to establish a disciplined network to re-activate agriculture and other commodities that all these people you seem to fantasize banding together would just turn on each other.....or so the theory goes.

[reaganperez17]

WITH ALL DO RESPECT TO THOSE BRAVE HEROES.

[ardvarkkkkk1]

@1337wafflezz And shot each other in the process, Real smart.

[16Irish]

Makes me want to be a cop, I want to protect people with my life.

[Itoby2]

@gboi96 Not true, his finger got shot off and couldn't remove the cartridge that was stuck in the ak, there by leaving the gun and reaching for his sidearm... He then shortly after realized he was done for and committed suicide with his pistol.

[gboi96]

i remember this the first roober to die was so retarded his gun jammed so he decided to look down the barrel and shot himself in the head.

[2976847]

@gloriakenny Thats 3 letters, not 3 words....god you are dumb XD

[BillyBaddAzz1]

that dumb ass wett back should have died on live tv

[sietevicio]

Cold blooded