The morning of February 28, 1997 started like any other in the quiet neighborhood of North Hollywood, California. Then two men, Larry Phillips Jr., and Emil Mătăsăreanu, entered a branch of the Bank of America on the corner of ________ at [TIME]. What unfolded in the next few hours shocked the consciousness of America as a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood turned into a war zone during one of the most violent bank robberies ever witnessed in the United States.
Background
Larry Phillips Jr. was born in 1970 and grew up living in southern California and Colorado. The 1970s and early 1980s were a transitional time in the US and Phillips had a generally normal childhood. However, his father was involved small time criminal activities that landed him in jail a few times, which affected the young Phillips. In the 1985 he dropped out of high school after the ninth grade—which was very abnormal in the U.S. by that time—with the stated goal to make money.
Phillips with his father
After dropping out of high school, Phillips seemed to be following his father’s path as started doing small cons taking people’s money and had a few brushes with the law. He also followed the fitness trends of the 1980s and wanted to be a bodybuilder. He joined Gold’s Gym to pursue every boy’s dream of becoming the next Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Emil Mătăsăreanu had a different life path. His family immigrated from Romania to the US in 1974 when he was eight years old. Life wasn’t always easy for Mătăsăreanu in school. He was overweight as a child and a newcomer with an accent and he was a target for bullying. He limited himself to a small group of friends during his school years and after graduating from high school opened a small electronics shop in 1987 when he was 20. By a twist of fate, Mătăsăreanu joined the same Golds Gym that Phillips attended.
Mătăsăreanu from a 1982 yearbook photo
It was at that gym that Phillips and Mătăsăreanu became friends. They quickly bonded over their mutual interests in body building, money-making schemes and guns. None of those interests is inherently bad. However, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu soon doubled down on the last two interests—money-making and guns—turning them down a crime path that they never left.
EARLY ROBBERIES
On a hot July day in 1993 they started their new criminal careers. For their first job, they had left California and returned to Phillips’ roots in Colorado. Going to where the money was, they robbed an armored car outside of a FirstBank branch in Littleton, Colorado. Though they were armed, the robbery unfolded “peacefully” and Phillips and Mătăsăreanu didn’t fire their firearms. After the robbery, they were amazed and ecstatic at the ease with which they had taken such easy money. High on endorphins, and probably some other nonnatural drugs, they headed back to California to plan more robberies.
They lay relatively low in California as they planned their next target. However, in October 1993 the pair was pulled over for speeding near Los Angeles after coming out of a gas station. Phillips, who was driving, didn’t have a valid drivers license and couldn’t produce a registration in his name. Police accordingly ordered the pair out of the car, detained them and then searched the car.
Inside the car, police found a veritable armory assembled for battle: a PolyTech semiautomatic rifle, a Norinco MAK-90 semiautomatic rifle, a Springfield Armory .45 pistol, a Colt .45 pistol, 1,649 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammunition, three Chinese-made 75-round drum magazines, 967 rounds of 9mm JHP ammo, 357 rounds of .45 JHP ammo, six smoke bombs, two IEDs, a gas mask, body armor, two 200-channel radio scanners with earpieces, sunglasses, gloves, wigs, ski-masks, three different California license plates and $1,620 in cash. It wasn’t your usual go-to-the-beach gear and the police took Phillips and Mătăsăreanu into custody.
INSERT PICTURE OF ONE OF THE GUNS HERE
Based on the types of weapons, the body armor, the disguises and the other materials that could be used in a robbery, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery in addition to a number of related offenses. They were looking at long jail time, which would have snuffed their planned life of crime in its infancy. However, jails in 1980s California were overflowing and prosecutors could not tie the pair to any current robberies. Accordingly, during pre-sentencing plea bargaining, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu were each able to negotiate their potential sentences down considerably. Each served less than 100 days in jail and was then placed on probation for three years.
They had been caught with all the ingredients for a heavily armed bank robbery and massive gun battle but walked away with a figurative slap on the wrist. That message resonated with the budding robbers and they soon went back to work.
CONTINUING CRIME SPREE
Their legal problems kept the pair occupied until well into 1994. For some people, the threat of prison time might make them think twice about undertaking crimes. But Phillips and Mătăsăreanu weren’t some people and their arrest and short time in jail didn’t slow down their plans for too long.
In June 1995, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu went back to the armored car well, ambushing a Brinks’ armored car on the streets of Los Angeles. However, this time the armored car’s guards didn’t cooperate like the guards had a few years earlier in Colorado and there was no “peaceful” outcome. This time the guards wouldn’t open the heavy doors. So Phillips and Mătăsăreanu blasted through the car’s armor with their heavy weapons, killing one of the guards inside and seriously injuring the other. And once again they left with tens of thousands in cash. However, this time they had crossed into new boundaries. They not only added another robbery under their belts, they also added felony murder.
The haul from that armored car job funded their lifestyle for months and the pair lay low, planning their next move. And their next move escalated the stakes.
In May 1996, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu leveled up from armored cars to the money mother lode: banks. They struck two banks that month. The first, on May 2, was a Bank of America branch in Van Nuys, California just before 10:00 a.m. Heavily armed, they threatened bank staff with their automatic weaponry weapons and forced them to comply with their demands. Eight minutes later they made off with over $750,000.
Later that month, on May 31, they hit another Bank of America branch, this time injuring two bank tellers and making off with almost $800,000. They were solidifying their modus operandi of heavily armed, quick attacks on banks in the morning hours, just after the banks opened. And investigators took note. Law enforcement identified their modus operandi and dubbed the pair of robbers the “High Incident Bandits.”
Phillips and Mătăsăreanu stole over $1.5 million in less than a month. That would be similar to over $3 million today. Tax free. Split that in half, invest in simple low-risk Treasuries or CDs and each could have pulled in an amount comparable to $75-$100k annually in today’s dollars. Without lifting a finger. That could have been the smart way forward. But Phillips and Mătăsăreanu had already shown that they weren’t necessarily the smartest.
Instead, they lay low for a few months spending their ill-gotten gains and then started planning their next job: the Bank of America branch at 6600 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the North Hollywood area of Los Angeles.
The North Hollywood Robbery
DO MAP
Google map of the area around the Bank of America and events during the shootout
Inside the Bank
At around 9:16 a.m. on February 28, 1997, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu, dubbed the the “High Incident Bandits” by local law enforcement, drove up to the North Hollywood branch of Bank of America at 6600 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in a white 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity. By this time they were heavily experienced bank robbers and knew what to expect. They were heavily armed and wore loose clothing over custom-made, military grade body armor. They were armed with an AK-47 variant Norinco Type 56 rifles, a Bushmaster XM-15 Dissipator with a 100-round drum magazine and a Heckler & Koch HK91 rifle. They also had a Beretta 92FS pistol. Phillips wore a Type IIIA bulletproof vest and groin guard and home-crafted body armor created from spare vests that covered his shins, thighs, and arms. Mătăsăreanu wore a Type IIIA bulletproof vest and a metal ballistic plate to protect vital organs. They each wore black ski masks to cover their faces.
They exited the car and set their watches for eight minutes, the amount of time that they estimated it would take the LAPD to respond to a bank robbery call. They then approached the bank door. An innocent bystander, Armen Iskaudaryan, was using one of the bank’s ATMs. As they approached, they grabbed, who had just used a one of the bank’s ATMs, and used him as a human shield as they walked through the door. Phillips shouted “This is a f__king hold-up!” and he and Mătăsăreanu fired into the bank ceiling to emphasize their intentions.
At that time LA was known as the bank robbery capital of the world due to the large number of robberies that occurred each year. To counter this, banks placed their tellers and vault behind bulletproof glass and a bulletproof door. To access the tellers and the bank vault, Phillips showed the main reason the pair wore so much body armor. He blasted the door handle and locks with his weapon until they broke. Shrapnel and ricochets flew around the room.
The robbers got into the secure area and forced assistant manager John Villigrana to start filling their bags from the vault.
Since it was a Friday just before the first of the month, pandm expected the branch to be stocked for payday, social security and welfare business with more than $750,000. However, to defeat this specific bank robbery scenario, Bank of America policy had changed and the vault contained only around $300,000.
Matasareanu was furious that the bank contained less than half of what the robbers had anticipated. Enraged, he opened fire at the remaining cash in the vault, destroying what was left inside. He then told Villigrana to open the bank’s ATM but the branch manager had no access to it. The haul was much less than the robbers planned for but they looked at their watches and knew that they had to leave. They locked the bank staff and customers in the bank vault and headed for the doors with $303,305 at 9:24 a.m.
Outside the Bank
Unknown to pandm, as they walked into the bank at 9:17 a.m., they were spotted by two patrolling LAPD officers, Officers Loren Farell and Martin Perello, who were driving down Laurel Canyon in a patrol cruiser. Officer Farell issued a call on the radio: “15-A-43 requesting assistance. We have a possible 211 (code for bank robbery) in progress.”
Farrell and Perello flipped their car around and positioned themselves outside the bank and prepared for the robbers’ exit. As the minutes ticked by additional units arrived and took up perimeter positions outside the bank. When Phillips poked his head out of the north door of the bank at 9:25 a.m., 44 officers were in positions surrounding the bank and an air unit flew overhead.
In 1997, the standard sidearms carried by most LAPD patrol officers were 9 mm pistols or .38 revolvers. Some patrol cars were also equipped with a 12 gauge shotgun. These weapons would be largely ineffective against the weapons and body armor of pandm. The officers surrounding the bank had no idea but they were about to find out.
When Phillips emerged from the north door of the bank at 9:25, he peeked his head around the door’s alcove and saw a number of officers waiting for him. He fired his Norinco Type 56 at the police. Officer Zboravan returned fire with the shotgun.
Phillips exited the bank, at 9:24 a.m. Spotting Haynes and Whitfield, as well as three present civilians, all of them distanced about 200 feet away from him, Phillips opened fire on Haynes’ and Whitfield’s police cruisers with his assault rifle, riddling both vehicles with numerous bullets.
Though Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu were outnumbered by the L.A.P.D., they had much more powerful weapons than the officers, and they wore so much body armor that it was nearly impossible to take them down. Given their advantage, the robbers opened fire, attempting to shoot their way to freedom.
At approximately 9:24 a.m., Phillips exited through the north doorway and after spotting a police cruiser 200 feet (60 m) away, opened fire for several minutes. In the initial shooting, Phillips wounded Sgt. Dean Haynes, Officers Martin Whitfield, James Zaboravan, and Stuart Guy, and Detectives William Krulac and Tracey Angeles, as well as three civilians that had taken cover behind Sgt. Haynes’ patrol car. Phillips also fired at an LAPD helicopter flown by Charles D. Perriguey Jr. as it surveyed the scene from above, forcing it to withdraw to a safer distance. Phillips briefly retreated inside, then reemerged through the north doorway, while Mătăsăreanu exited through the south exit.
Phillips and Mătăsăreanu continued to engage the officers, firing sporadic bursts into the patrol cars that had been positioned on Laurel Canyon in front of the bank and in the parking lot across the street.[4] Officers, who were mostly armed with then-LAPD standard-issue Beretta 92F/FS 9mm pistols, Smith & Wesson Model 15 .38 Special revolvers, and 12-gauge Ithaca Model 37 pump-action shotguns, continued to return fire at both robbers, but found quickly that their handguns and shotguns would not penetrate the body armor worn by Phillips and Mătăsăreanu. This was compounded by the fact that most of the LAPD officers’ service pistols had insufficient range at longer distances, where most officers found themselves positioned relative to the bank entrance. An officer was heard on the LAPD police frequency approximately 10 to 15 minutes into the shootout, warning other officers that they should “not stop [the getaway vehicle], they’ve got automatic weapons, there’s nothing we have that can stop them.”[22] Additionally, the officers were pinned down by the heavy sprays of gunfire coming from the robbers, making it extremely difficult to attempt a head shot with their handguns. Several officers acquired five AR-15-style rifles from a nearby gun store to combat the robbers.
The nation watched the battle unfold on live TV as news helicopters broadcast the event live. KCBS and KCAL helicopters hovered overhead. Most of the incident, including the death of Phillips and surrender of Mătăsăreanu, was broadcast live by news helicopters, which hovered over the scene and televised the action as events unfolded.
During the standoff, frustrated police ran into the now-defunct B&B Gun Shop to grab high-powered weapons and ammo.
Realizing their predicament, some of the police officers rushed into a nearby gun store. The owner gave them six semi-automatic rifles, two semi-automatic handguns, and 4,000 rounds of ammo so they could fight back.
The officers were initially outgunned by the robbers, who were able to fire back with their assault rifles. The officers were forced to take cover behind cars and other objects and they began to call for backup.
The scene quickly descended into a scene reminiscent of a war zone. The sound of gunfire reverberated through the streets, echoing off buildings as bullets pierced through the air, shattering glass, and causing chaos to erupt. News helicopters circled above, broadcasting the shocking scenes to millions of viewers across the nation, amplifying the fear and disbelief as the intense gun battle unfolded in real-time.
The unfolding gun battle quickly spilled out onto the streets, turning the surrounding neighborhood into a war zone. The robbers, seemingly unfazed by the overwhelming law enforcement presence, continued their assault, firing round after round, causing havoc and terrorizing the community. Bullets tore through cars, shattered windows, and sent bystanders running for their lives.
Matasareanu exited from the bank’s south door, firing in every direction. He re-entered and re-exited the bank three times to shoot at the police. Phillips also took cover inside the building.
Phillips re-emerged seconds later for another round with the LAPD. He riddled the police with a hail of gunfire, tearing apart squad cars and wounding four more officers before disappearing back inside.
At 9:28, Matasareanu left the bank with the nylon bag of money and Phillips in tow. They laid down heavy, continuous covering fire as they began to make their way toward the sidewalk. For 17 minutes, the LAPD took heavy gunfire from Phillips and Matasareanu.
At 9:38, Lt. Nick Zingo sent officers to the B&B Sales gun shop on Oxnard Street to “obtain effective weapons.” More effective weapons were borrowed from the store but were never used. By the time they arrived on the scene, the Metropolitan Division SWAT team had arrived.
Back in the parking lot, Matasareanu was at the wheel of the white sedan and Phillips was in the trunk grabbing more ammunition. Police officers shot his HK-91 rifle in the receiver, rendering it inoperable. He discarded it and pulled another rifle from the trunk as SWAT officers with rifles made their way toward the bank. Others moved north to cut off the suspects’ escape.
At 9:53, Phillips’ last rifle jammed. The LAPD’s after-action report later noted that a 7.62×39 case stove-piped in the ejection port. He discarded it and drew a 9mm pistol to keep firing at the police. He dropped the weapon and bent down to pick it up. Instead of continuing to fight the LAPD, he put the barrel to his chin and shot himself in the head. He fell to the ground, dead.
With his partner dead, the remaining suspect drove the white sedan eastbound, swerving to try and stop other motorists. He briefly stopped to attempt to commandeer an oncoming vehicle, but the car made a U-turn and Matasareanu, now with a noticeable limp, got back in the car and continued driving. Patrol officers were unable to follow him, as all of the police vehicles were heavily “blown out.”
The SWAT team and helicopter followed Matasareanu as he periodically stopped to try and hijack oncoming vehicles. He finally managed to fire into a brown truck, scaring off the wounded driver. He fired at police as he attempted to load the truck with weapons from the car. When he entered the truck, he discovered the driver had taken the key.
Three SWAT officers pinned the wounded Matasareanu in between the white car and the truck, forcing the robber to take cover and return fire. Two SWAT officers got into their vehicle and drove directly at him, firing from their open passenger door.
By 9:58, Matasareanu was severely wounded, disoriented, and firing in the wrong direction. He finally dropped his weapon and gave himself up. Wounded, he was taken into custody by the LAPD SWAT team, who called for an ambulance. By 10:01, it was all over. Matasareanu had been shot 29 times and lay bleeding on the pavement.
While still in the parking lot, Mătăsăreanu was shot in the right buttock, the right leg, and the left forearm. A fourth projectile then lacerated his upper right eyesocket and prompted him to duck behind the hood of the getaway car in shock; he subsequently abandoned his duffle bag of money, entered the getaway vehicle, and started the engine.
Phillips retrieved the HK-91 from the open trunk and continued firing upon officers while walking alongside the sedan, using it for cover. As Phillips approached the passenger’s side of the getaway vehicle, he was hit in the shoulder and his rifle was struck in the receiver and magazine by bullets fired by police. After firing a few more shots with one arm, Phillips discarded the HK-91 and retrieved the Norinco Type 56 before exiting the parking lot and retreating onto the street while Mătăsăreanu drove down the road.
Two locations adjacent to the bank’s north parking lot provided good cover for officers and detectives. Police likely shot Phillips with their handguns while Phillips was still firing and taking cover near the four vehicles adjacent to the North wall of the bank (gray Honda Civic, Ford Explorer, white Acura Legend, and Chevrolet Celebrity).
One location that Officer Richard Zielenski of Valley Traffic Division effectively used for cover was the adjacent Del Taco restaurant’s west wall, 351 feet (107 m) from Phillips. Zielenski fired 86 9mm rounds at Phillips and is believed to have hit Phillips during their exchange. Zielenski was also able to use this position to draw Phillips’ fire away from Sgt. Haynes and Officer Whitfield, who were both wounded and had only marginal cover behind trees across Laurel Canyon Blvd.
The other location that proved advantageous for the LAPD was the backyard of 6641 Agnes Avenue. A cinder block wall provided relative cover for several detectives shooting at Phillips with their 9mm pistols. Detective Bancroft and Detective Harley in particular, were able to position themselves behind cover and fire between 15 and 24 rounds at Phillips, from a distance of approximately 55 feet (17 m). After Mătăsăreanu backed the Chevrolet Celebrity out of the handicapped space in the north parking lot, Phillips received a gunshot wound to his left wrist, based upon helicopter news footage that showed him react to pain.
At 9:52 a.m., Phillips turned east on Archwood Street and took cover behind a parked semi-truck where he continued to fire at the police (Lt. Michael Ranshaw, Officers Conrado Torrez, John Caprarelli, and Ed Brentlinger) until his rifle jammed. Unable to clear the jam because of a gunshot wound to his left wrist, he dropped the rifle and drew a Beretta 92FS pistol, which he began firing.[19] He was then shot in the right hand by Officer Conrado Torrez, causing him to drop the pistol. After retrieving it, he placed the muzzle under his chin and fired.
Officers across the street continued to shoot Phillips’ body several times while he was on the ground. After the firing had stopped, officers in the area surrounded Phillips, handcuffed him (though obviously deceased at this point, it was still standard procedure for police to arrest a criminal of his severity as if he were alive) and removed his ski mask.
Mătăsăreanu’s vehicle was rendered inoperable after two of its tires were shot out and the windshield covered in bullet holes.[4] At 9:56 a.m., he attempted to carjack a yellow 1963 Jeep Gladiator on Archwood by shooting at the driver, who fled on foot, three blocks east of where Phillips died. He quickly transferred all of his weapons and ammunition from the getaway car, but was unable to operate the Jeep due to the driver engaging the electrical kill switch before fleeing.
For 44 thunderous minutes, they sprayed stores more than 1,000 armor-piercing bullets at police from five agencies. The majority of the police were outgunned, using mere .38 revolvers or 9 mm pistols against the heavily body-armored robbers firing high-capacity automatic rifles.
The SWAT team was on its way. Some SWAT members had been working out at the LAPD academy and arrived in gym shorts and bulletproof vests.
At the same approximate time, LAPD gunfire struck the Heckler & Koch rifle that Phillips was firing, rendering it inoperable with a penetration to the receiver. Phillips discarded it and rearmed himself with another assault rifle from the trunk of the sedan.
After LAPD radio operators received the second “officer down” call from police at the shootout, a tactical alert was issued. The SWAT team (Donnie Anderson, Steve Gomez, Peter Weireter, and Richard Massa) arrived 18 minutes after the shooting had begun. They were armed with AR-15s, and wore running shoes and shorts under their body armor, as they had been on an exercise run when they received the call. Upon arrival, they commandeered a nearby armored truck (driven by Hector Quevedo and David Campbell), which was used to extract wounded civilians and officers from the scene.
Mătăsăreanu eventually boarded the Chevrolet and started its engine while Phillips decided to cover him with a Heckler & Koch M91A3 semiautomatic rifle. Eventually, the rifle was struck in the receiver and magazine by bullets fired from police, rendering it partially useless; Phillips was also hit in the shoulder. He soon discarded the rifle after firing a few more times one-handedly and utilized a Norinco Type 56 S1 assault rifle.
patrol car driven by SWAT officers Donnie Anderson, Steve Gomez, and Richard Massa quickly arrived and stopped on the opposite side of the truck to where the Chevrolet was stopped. Mătăsăreanu left the truck, took cover behind the original getaway car, and engaged them in two-and-a-half minutes of almost uninterrupted gunfire. Mătăsăreanu’s chest armor deflected a double tap from SWAT officer Anderson, which briefly winded him before he continued firing. Anderson fired his AR-15 below the cars and wounded Mătăsăreanu in his unprotected lower legs; he was soon unable to continue and put his hands up to show surrender.
Around 9:52 a.m., Phillips and Matasareanu split up. Phillips crouched behind a truck to continue shooting at the police, but his rifle jammed. He pulled out his backup handgun, but an officer shot him in the hand. Facing defeat, Larry Phillips Jr. decided to kill himself with his Beretta.
Meanwhile, Matasareanu had tried to hijack a bystander’s Jeep to escape. Thinking quickly, the Jeep’s owner took the keys with him as he abandoned the vehicle, leaving Matasareanu stranded. The robber instead took cover behind the Jeep and kept firing at the officers that surrounded him.
Finally, when the assault rifle became permanently jammed, Phillips discarded it and opened fire with a 9mm Beretta Model 92FS semiautomatic pistol. Police fired back and Phillips was soon shot in the right hand, causing him to accidentally drop his pistol. Picking it up, Phillips used it to commit suicide by shooting himself up the chin. As he fell to the ground, he was struck by bullets fired by police. There had been a possibility that Phillips’ suicide was accidental when he tried to reload the pistol one-handedly with his uninjured hand, but this has never been confirmed. Meanwhile, Mătăsăreanu, who had begun driving on Archwood Street at the time of Phillips’ suicide, made a decision to abandon the Chevrolet and carjack another vehicle, as the Chevrolet had been fired on by police officers, leaving two flat tires and a windshield riddled by at least four bullets. Coming across a red Ford Tempo and blocking it, Mătăsăreanu fired at the driver, but he escaped unharmed.
Mătăsăreanu then came across a group of cars and confronted an aerospace engineer named Bill Marr, who had been trying to drive to his workplace at the Van Nuys airport in his 1963 Jeep Cherokee pickup truck but had to reroute to Archwood Street due to police blockage from the shootout. Mătăsăreanu fired at Marr, wounding him and forcing him to flee on foot; he tried to get into the house of 69-year-old Dora Lubjensky, who thought he was an intruder and called police, leading them to briefly assume afterwards that Marr was a possible third gunman. Meanwhile, Mătăsăreanu retrieved a Bushmaster XM15 E2S “Dissipator” semiautomatic rifle from the trunk of the Chevrolet when he noticed police officers closing in. He boarded Marr’s Jeep and tried to get it started, for Marr had left the keys, but the Jeep had a kill switch activated and was a stick-shift type , which Mătăsăreanu was unfamiliar with and this left the Jeep useless as a getaway vehicle. A SWAT team eventually arrived and fired at Mătăsăreanu with their AR-15 assault rifles for two-and-a-half minutes. They noticed that Mătăsăreanu wasn’t wearing any armor on his legs and fired under the vehicles, hitting him over 20 times in the legs. Mătăsăreanu fell and surrendered to authorities. When officers surrounded him, he called himself Pete and taunted them to kill him. By 10:01 a.m., he eventually died from trauma induced by excessive blood loss coming from two gunshot wounds in his left thigh; this happened before an ambulance called in reached the scene almost seventy minutes later.
The shootout ended at 10:01 a.m. PST. By the time it was over, both robbers were dead, 12 police officers and 8 civilians were injured, and nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition had been fired. Over 300 law enforcement officers from various forces had responded to the citywide tactical alert.[34][35] By the time the shooting had stopped, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu had fired about 1,100 rounds, approximately a round every two seconds.
The two well-armored men had fired approximately 1,100 rounds, while approximately 650 rounds were fired by police.[4] Following their training, the responding patrol officers directed their fire at the “center of mass”, or torsos, of Mătăsăreanu and Phillips. However, aramid body armor worn by Phillips and Mătăsăreanu covered all of their vitals (except their heads), enabling them to absorb pistol bullets and shotgun pellets, while Mătăsăreanu’s chest armor, thanks to a steel armor plate, successfully withstood a hit from a SWAT officer’s AR-15.
The service pistols carried by the first responding officers were of insufficient power and used the wrong type of ammunition for penetrating even pistol rated soft body armor. Furthermore, the police were pinned down by fully automatic suppressive fire, making it difficult for them to execute the type of well-aimed return fire that would be required to attempt head shots. Phillips was shot 11 times, including his self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chin while Mătăsăreanu was shot 29 times.[4]
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]
Ambulance personnel were following standard procedure in hostile situations by refusing to enter “the hot zone”, as the area was not cleared and Mătăsăreanu was still considered to be dangerous. The police radioed for an ambulance, but Mătăsăreanu, loudly swearing profusely and still goading the police to shoot him, died before the ambulance and EMTs were allowed to reach the scene almost 70 minutes later. Later reports showed that Mătăsăreanu had been shot 29 times in the legs and died from trauma due to excessive blood loss from two gunshot wounds in his left thigh
An inventory of the weapons used:[6]
A Bushmaster XM-15 converted illegally to fire full auto with two 100-round Beta Magazines
A Heckler & Koch HK-91 semi automatic rifle with several 30-round magazines[36]
A Beretta 92FS Inox with several magazines
Three different civilian-model Kalashnikov-style rifles converted illegally to fire full auto with several 75- to 100-round drum magazines, as well as 30-round box magazines.
Phillips and Mătăsăreanu armed themselves with a semi-automatic HK-91 and several illegally converted weapons: two Norinco Type 56 S rifles, a fully automatic Norinco Type 56 S-1, and a fully automatic Bushmaster XM15 Dissipator.
Phillips and Matasareanu loaded the trunk of a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity with an arsenal of weapons and ammunition. Along with 3,000 rounds of ammunition, much of it loaded into drum magazines, they were packing two converted fully automatic Norinco Type 56S rifles, a converted fully automatic Norinco Type 56S-1, a semiautomatic Heckler & Koch Model 91 in 7.62x51mm, an automatic Bushmaster XM15 Dissipator in 5.56mm, and Beretta 92FS pistols.
At the Los Angeles Police Museum in Highland Park, the robbers’ stickup duds and guns are on display in what has proved to be its most popular exhibit. Out back, their bullet-ridden getaway car, a destroyed LAPD black-and-white, and an armored car that helped rescue cops and civilians gathers crowds.
