thebachellor
Banned
- 1,250
- 16
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2006
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
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."