An attempted bank robbery leads to a 44-minute shootout with the LAPD.
Welcome to Heist Files of the 90s, a limited-series podcast covering some of the most daring, criminal heists of the decade.
It is the morning of February 28, 1997. In the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles, the temperature is cool, the streets busy. At 9:16 AM, a white Chevrolet Celebrity pulls into the parking lot of the Bank of America on Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
Inside the vehicle are Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu. They are not typical bank robbers. They are dressed in full-body armor—homemade suits weighing over 40 pounds, stitched together with aramid kevlar and trauma plates capable of stopping handgun fire. They carry illegal, fully automatic rifles, including Norinco Type 56s and a Bushmaster XM-15, loaded with armor-piercing rounds.
As they exit the bank eight minutes later, they are spotted by LAPD patrol officers. What follows is not an arrest, but a war.
Officers Farrell and Perello call in a "211"—code for robbery. But as the suspects emerge, they open fire. The police return fire with standard-issue 9mm Berettas and .38 revolvers. The bullets bounce harmlessly off the robbers' heavy armor.
Phillips and Mătăsăreanu stand their ground in the parking lot, firing indiscriminately at police and civilians. The firepower mismatch is catastrophic. Officers are forced to "borrow" rifles from a local gun store, while others aim for the suspects' heads—the only exposed areas—but the distance and suppressing fire make precision impossible.
The battle spills into the residential streets. Phillips moves on foot, using cars for cover, while Mătăsăreanu drives the getaway vehicle slowly beside him. For 44 minutes, they fire nearly 1,100 rounds. Police fire approximately 650.
The turning point comes when SWAT teams arrive. At 9:52 AM, Larry Phillips Jr.'s rifle jams. After discarding it and drawing a handgun, he is shot in the hand by police. Realizing escape is impossible, Phillips takes his own life just as a police bullet severs his spine.
Three blocks away, Emil Mătăsăreanu attempts to carjack a pickup truck but is pinned down by SWAT. Officers realize his armor does not cover his lower legs. They shoot underneath the vehicles, striking his legs 29 times. He surrenders, but bleeds to death at the scene before paramedics are cleared to enter the "hot zone."
In the end, only the two perpetrators are killed. Miraculously, despite the thousands of rounds fired, no officers or civilians die, though 12 officers and 8 civilians are injured.
The North Hollywood Shootout forever changed American policing. It highlighted the inadequacy of standard patrol weaponry, leading directly to the widespread deployment of patrol rifles like the AR-15 to regular officers.
For the residents of North Hollywood, the echoes of those 44 minutes would last a lifetime.