NT, let's revisit: The North Hollywood shootout (vol. Modern Day OK Coral)

thebachellor

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I've always been fascinated by this event.� For those that don't know:

2 guys armed to the teeth with military grade weapons attempt to rob a Bank of America. Planned it meticulously, down to timing themselves based on the average response time of the police (gained through using police scanners for a couple of weeks beforehand). When the day comes, a patrol car just happens to spot these 2 armed guys heading to the bank and� what was supposed to be mundane bank robbery turns in to one of the craziest shootouts in the past 25 years.

Just the fact that a whole squadron of cops was helpless against 2 dudes is
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. I was only 9 at the time this happened, so I found out about it after it happened. But did anyone see this live? Must have been crazy.

I don't even "give props" to criminals, but you have to admire the amount of planning that went in to this:

On the morning of February 28, 1997, after months of preparation, including extensive reconnoitering of their intended target—the Bank of America branch on Laurel Canyon Boulevard—Phillips and Matasareanu loaded five illegally modified, fully automatic rifles: three Romanian AIM rifles (an AKM copy), a modified HK91 and an AR-15. They also possessed two 9�mm Beretta 92F pistols, a .38-caliber revolver, and approximately 3,300 rounds of ammunition in box and drum magazines, and made their way from their apartment to the bank in a white Chevrolet Celebrity.[sup][12][/sup] They wore their full-suit body armor, as well as metal trauma plates to protect vital organs, and they took the barbiturate phenobarbital to calm their nerves.[sup][13][/sup]


Officers who initially responded to Friday's robbery, carrying standard-issue 9 millimeter Baretta handguns, were in trouble.

"Tactically, the first officers that arrived were at a severedisadvantage," weapons expert and former LAPD officer Dave Butler said. "Police carry 15 rounds. They would need to re-load."

Stunned officers were out-gunned to such a degree that at one point they burst into a gun store, and walked out with more powerful guns and ammunition.

Police "came in a panic because their weapons weren't good enough to fight these people," said the store's president, who would identify himself only as Bob.

"These people had body armor and they needed something thatwould break body armor," he said. "We supplied them with slugs that would at least break bones on someone wearing body armor."
 
Whenever footage of this is on TV I'm always watching it like
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I hope to see a good movie made about this, not the made for tv ones.
 
Yeah bro I saw it happen. I went to NORTH HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL. When the gun fire broke out, the whole school was on lock down until about 5 pm. We saw everything happen on the news. I was in P.E. when it happened. We saw a bunch of helicopters in the sky, and a bunch of sirens going on. We didnt know what was happening. Then the coaches come running out and they put everyone in class rooms and the gym. It was a crazy day.
 
Dudes should have just laid low with the $1.5 million they made off with from their first couple of robberies.
 
I remember the LAPD got sued afterward, too.

I also remember a couple misnomers about them going to the gun/ammo stores which got cleared up a few years back.
 
Originally Posted by justhotkicks

I remember watching this. Didn't they have like...zero kills? Wack.

they didn't want to kill anyone though... just a bad twist of luck landed them in that shootout.  they went in planning to rob the bank and be out, then cops showed up and they tried blasting their way through.

everytime i see this game i think about when i saw that news coverage the first time:

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Yup I remember this. They walked down the street unloading clip after clip so casually. Then one of the robbers ran out of ammo on his handgun and just tossed it and pulled another one. Real life GTA
 
Originally Posted by moneymike88

Originally Posted by LazyJ10

I remember the LAPD got sued afterward, too.
sued for what

Family members believed LAPD let the second gunman die by not offering any help. On the last video it states why paramedics couldn’t help.

  
 
Originally Posted by ServeChilled81

Whenever footage of this is on TV I'm always watching it like
eek.gif

I hope to see a good movie made about this, not the made for tv ones.

there is a movie made about this. i forgot what its called tho
 
thanks for the post

reminds me of the pizza delivery guy that had an explosive device connected to his neck, lol
 
Yeah I remember this incident. For whatever reason, I think about it every once in a while...
 
I always watch if a documentary/show is on about this.  It really is like something out of a blockbuster action flick.

I'd be really interested if a solid director (michael mann 
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) made a project out of this, starting from when the two guys met and their first few robberies to the end
 
Originally Posted by GetYaShinebox

I always watch if a documentary/show is on about this.  It really is like something out of a blockbuster action flick.

I'd be really interested if a solid director (michael mann 
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) made a project out of this, starting from when the two guys met and their first few robberies to the end

I hope he gets De Niro, Pacino, Kilmer, Voight, and Micheal Madsen all on board for it as well.

Seriously though, I was a senior at North Hollywood HS when this went down...I just happened to be out that day. I remember driving from Van Nuys towards NH and seeing nothing but helicopters in the sky. Crazy times
 
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