Casefile True Crime - Case 18: The North Hollywood Shootout

Episode Date: May 8, 2016

On the 28th of February 1997 Los Angeles police officers, Perello and Farrell were on routine patrol driving along Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood. As they were driving past the Bank of America they saw two large figures enter the bank. Both were dressed in black, both were wearing ski masks and both were carrying automatic rifles. What followed, was 44 minutes of mayhem… For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-18-the-north-hollywood-shootout

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were on routine patrol driving along Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood. As they were driving past the Bank of America, they saw two large figures dressed in black clothing entering the bank. Both were wearing ski masks, both had body armour on, and both were carrying large automatic assault rifles. Our unit officer needs help. At the Bank of America, Laurel Canyon North of Kittridge. Officer needs help.

Bank of America, Laurel Canyon North of Kittridge. Before we get to the bank, we go back to 1967. Larry Phillips Sr. was just one year out of high school when he was sent to jail for grave desecration. A drunken prank where he tried to dig up a grave and remove the head of a corpse. He was paroled in January 1968, but his freedom only lasted three months. He was sent back to jail for robbing a gas station. After just three months back in jail, he was transferred to Colorado State Hospital,

which was a psychiatric hospital. The reason for the transfer there is unknown, but after ten months, Larry Phillips Sr. had enough and he escaped. The date was the 18th of April 1969. A warrant was immediately issued for his arrest. Once he escaped, Larry Sr. picked up his girlfriend Dorothy Clay. Very little is known about Dorothy, but there are reports she herself had a criminal history with previous jail time.

Both Larry Sr. and Dorothy used many different aliases to avoid detection whilst they were on the run. Not much is known about them for the next few years, but at some point they made their way to California. And it was at the California Hospital in Los Angeles on the 20th of September 1970 that Larry Phillips Jr. was born. Except the name that appeared on his birth certificate was Larry Eugene Warfell. He wouldn't be known as Larry Phillips Jr. until seven, eight years later.

His parents were listed on his birth certificate as Barbara Allen and Daniel Warfell. Their occupations and addresses were also fake. Larry Phillips Sr. was still on the run. They lied on the birth certificate to keep the law from catching up with them. After the birth of Larry Phillips Jr., the family disappears again. They disappear until the 22nd of September 1976. Dorothy and Larry Jr. were living in a small town near Denver. Larry Sr. wasn't living with them at the time,

but he visited that day to celebrate Larry Jr.'s sixth birthday. It's unknown who tipped them off, but shortly after Larry Sr. arrived, seven FBI agents stormed the house and arrested him. He was sent back to jail to serve the rest of his sentence for the gas station robbery after being on the run for seven years. No doubt that was an experience Larry Jr. wouldn't forget. By 1980, Larry Sr. and Dorothy had divorced.

During his sporadic visitation with Larry Jr., Larry Sr. passed on his anti-police and anti-establishment views. In 1986, Dorothy decided to move to Los Angeles. Larry Jr. had quit high school in the ninth grade, and he was dating a girl by the name of Sharon Santos, who would later become his wife and mother to his two children. By now, Larry Jr. had developed a love of bodybuilding. Once moving to Los Angeles,

he quickly bought a five-year membership to the world-famous Golds Gym at Venice Beach. Like so many before him, Larry Jr. had plans to make it big. He wanted to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was committed to. His trips to Golds Gym were two hours each way from where he was living. But after a few years, he realised he wasn't going to make it as a professional bodybuilder. He let his gym membership expire

and looked to other avenues to find his fortune. In 1990, he looked to cash in on the Los Angeles booming property market. He applied for and was granted a real estate sales license. It was granted on the grounds that he passed a future exam and that he would come up clean on a background check. It was the background check that was his undoing. A fingerprint check matched him to an arrest in 1989, where he shoplifted $400 worth of clothes.

It was his first and only arrest at the time. His bodybuilding dream didn't work out and now his planned real estate career was taken away. Larry Jr. became down and out. Instead of taking responsibility, he decided to blame everybody else. He came to resent society and its rules. He decided to move back to Denver

with his wife Sharon and his children. Larry found alternative methods to try and make it rich. He contacted local real estate agents and went through a number of properties that were for sale. He posed as a prospective buyer. He would watch the real estate agent unlock their house's lockbox, which contained the keys, and then he would memorize the combination.

He then placed his own ads in the local paper under a fake name, claiming to have several rental properties available. People would ring him up and he would take the prospective renters and inspect the properties that were actually for sale. Larry would claim the sale of the house had gone through and the new owners wanted to rent the property out as soon as possible. He accepted down payments for rent and security deposits. But the scam didn't last long.

He was arrested. He was charged with the scam, but he was released pending a sentencing hearing. Larry was looking at two years in Denver County Jail, participating in a work release program. Whilst waiting for his sentencing to be official, he split up from Sharon. It was 1992 when he walked out on her and their two kids.

He didn't show up for his sentencing hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. It was back in 1989, while still working at a Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, where Phillip's junior met his friend Emile Mattisorano. Emile also had an interest in bodybuilding, as well as an interest in firearms. Emile was born in Romania on the 19th of July 1966.

He migrated to the USA in 1976. He went to high school at Pasadena High, where his mother says he was the victim of bullying. After finishing high school, Emile completed a three-year electronics engineering degree at university. And in 1988, Emile opened up his own computer business,

selling computer parts, offering servicing and repairs, as well as writing some software. But the business was a failure and never got off the ground. He later married and had a son, but the marriage didn't last. His wife left him.

After leaving his wife and children in Denver, Larry Phillips junior returned to Los Angeles, where he hooked back up with his buddy Emile Mattisorano. Emile, fresh off his failed business venture, and Larry, fresh off his failed bodybuilding, real estate and scam endeavors, got together to work out what they were going to do to make it rich. Or maybe a more accurate description,

was Larry tried to work out what he was going to do to make it rich, and how Emile was going to help. Larry had big dreams of a rich, extravagant lifestyle. This is a person who used to drive to rich neighborhoods and park outside of a house he liked, and then picture himself living there. Larry wouldn't bring anybody into his inner circle without a plan for how he could use them to his advantage.

He was the type of person that would try and break people down and build them back up, so he could control them. Larry was the manipulator, Emile was the follower. He did whatever Larry said. It was the 20th of July, 1993, when they committed their first armed robbery.

They ambushed an armored car outside a branch of First Bank in Littleton, Colorado. It was the start of a spade of robberies that would lead Larry and Emile to be dubbed the High Incident Bandits. They weren't suspects for the robbery at the time. Police had no idea. So when they were pulled over three months later,

police didn't know Larry and Emile had already committed a violent armed robbery. It was the 29th of October, 1993, when Larry and Emile were pulled over in Glendale, California. Larry was driving, and Emile was in the front passenger seat. They were stopped by Sergeant Ian Grimes. When questioned, Larry said he had left his license at home, and he gave a false name.

Sergeant Grimes then asked whose car it was, to which Emile replied it was Larry's mother's car. Sergeant Grimes had already done a check and knew it was actually an airport rental. He got Larry to step out of the car, and when he patted him down, he found a Glock pistol with an extended 33-round magazine. Then he heard a thud from inside the car.

That was Emile dropping his own pistol underneath the passenger seat. Sergeant Grimes called for assistance and covered Larry and Emile until backup arrived. When they got there, a search of the car uncovered a semi-automatic rifle and a Springfield pistol belonging to Larry, and a semi-automatic rifle and a Colt pistol belonging to Emile. Along with the firearms,

the police also found a heap of 30-round magazines, as well as a heap of 75-round drum magazines. Combined, they contained a total of 1,649 rounds of 39-millimeter ammo. They also found 967 rounds of 9-millimeter ammo, 357 rounds of 45 ammo, six smoke bombs, two improvised explosive bombs,

two improvised explosive devices, one gas mask, two sets of body armour, two police skinners, sunglasses, gloves, wigs, ski masks, and a stopwatch, two spray cans of hair colour, three different sets of Californian license plates,

and $1,620 in cash. They were both arrested and taken to Glendale Police Station. The police were convinced they had just stopped the bank robbery from happening, and given what was to come, they were obviously right. Larry Phillips Jr. was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery,

brand theft auto, unlawful weapons activity, carrying a loaded concealed firearm, and felony perjury. Emile Mattisorano was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, unlawful weapons activity, and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

At their preliminary hearing, the grand theft auto charge and the perjury charge against Larry were dropped. On the remaining charges, they were facing eight years jail each. The problem was, neither Larry or Emile said a word, and the police had no other information to go on.

So it was difficult to prove they were going to commit a robbery. Even though that was the logical conclusion, given the arsenal and the disguises they were found with, there was another thing to prove it in court. At their arraignment, they gave a story that the disguises

were in preparation for a Halloween party, and that they had the weapons in ammo because they were headed to a shooting range. In exchange for early guilty pleas, the DA dropped their conspiracy robbery charges, and allowed Larry and Emile to plead to much lesser charges. Larry was sentenced to 99 days jail

with three years probation. Both were actually released straight away due to time already served. The date was the 27th of December, 1993. Larry was still wanted in Denver on the rental property scam, but for unknown reasons, Denver authorities didn't pursue him.

He wasn't extradited back there to face punishment, so essentially, Larry was a free man. It was a big crime, but it was about 18 months later, on the 14th of June, 1995, that Larry and Emile hit another armored car. Herman Cook was a guard working for Brink Security. He was working on an armored car

doing cash drop-offs and pickups to banks. Herman had just made a drop-off to the Bank of America on Roscoe Boulevard, Winnetcar, Los Angeles. He was walking back to the armored car with an empty money bag. It was here that Herman was completely ambushed, shot multiple times, without warning in a completely unprovoked attack.

Herman staggered his way back to the front of the armored car where he collapsed. He was never even able to draw his firearm. His partner, Felipe Cortez, was in the armored car at the time. Emile then opened fire on the car while Larry made the approach. Felipe was able to get a few shots off.

He said he even hit one of them, but it did nothing but stagger them. A clear sign they were wearing body armor. Felipe was also shot in the attack. Larry was able to reach into the car and grab a bag of money. He and Emile then escaped, making off with $122,000.

Felipe survived, but Herman wasn't so lucky. He died as a result of his gunshot wounds. After that robbery, Larry and Emile decided to change tactics. They decided to go for banks. No more armored cars. On the 2nd of May 1996,

just before 10am, Larry and Emile burst through the doors of the Bank of America on Woodman Avenue, Van Nuys. Both were armed with automatic rifles. After yelling at everyone, get on the fucking floor. Emile started shooting through the armored teller door.

Due to the type of weapon and caliber of bullet Emile was using, he shot the door open easily. He yelled out for the manager who identified herself. He forced her to open the vault and Emile started filling up a large bag with cash.

Larry remained out in the four-year area of the bank, keeping an eye on the customers and other staff members. They were inside the bank for around six minutes and managed to get away with $755,048. Only four weeks later, on May 31st, Larry and Emile burst through the doors

of the Bank of America on Roscoe Boulevard, Winnicka. The same bank they had robbed the armored V&E outside of, killing Herman Cook about a year earlier. Very similar to the previous bank robbery, they yelled at everybody to get down. One of the tellers managed to hit the soil and alarm before diving onto the floor.

Emile shot his way through the teller door, grabbed the manager and forced her to open the vault. Two bank employees were struck by ricochets, but they survived. Emile was screaming at the manager to fill up his bag. He was becoming agitated at the amount of money that was in the vault, or the lack of money.

He kept screaming, where's the rest of it? And he made several threats to kill the manager. What had happened was that Larry and Emile had done surveillance on the bank and saw what they thought was a cash delivery from an armored car. What they had actually seen was a cash pickup. That's why there wasn't as much money in the vault

as they had planned. Despite being disappointed in the haul, they still managed to steal $794,200, although there were several marked bills in amongst the cash. They got lucky that day, too. The police were thin on the ground, and it took them much longer to respond to the alarm than usual.

Larry and Emile were in the bank for close to eight minutes. Most other days, the police would have been there by then. But on this occasion, they weren't, and they managed to get away. The police still had no suspects for the robberies. They had a nickname, though. The high-incident bandits. But nobody knew who they were.

It would be nine months before they struck again. Branch 384 of the Bank of America is located at 6600 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood. Larry and Emile had done their homework, staking out the bank, learning the layout, formulating their plan, and observing armored car drop-offs and pickups.

They arrived at the bank about 9.15 a.m. Emile drove the white chef with black-and-dark windows into the northern parking lot via Archwood Street. They weren't mucking around. Larry was wearing a Kevlar body armour vest, a groin protector, and by using additional vests, he had made improvised armour for his shins, thighs, and forearms.

His upper arms weren't protected, but he was still pretty well covered. The body armour weighed 43 pounds in total, or about 20 kilos. He also wore a load-bearing vest that contained ammunition pouches, as well as a belt that contained several canteen pouches, which is where he store his ammunition drums in

for the automatic rifles. He also had a shoulder holster, which was carrying a pistol. He wore black gloves with a watch face glued to the back of the left glove. He was dressed in long black pants and a long-slave dark-coloured shirt with a black jacket over the top.

Emile was virtually dressed the same, with a very similar setup, right down to the glued watch face on the back of his glove. Although he didn't have quite as much body armour as Larry, his legs and arms weren't as well protected. As if they didn't look intimidating enough, they were both of a very large build.

Remember, it was their interest in bodybuilding that allowed them to meet, and as they had done with the previous robberies, they covered their faces with black ski masks. Between them, they had three AK-47-style fully automatic assault rifles with 100-ground ammo drums, as well as two other assault rifles.

The rifles had been illegally modified to fire fully automatic. They also had two 9mm handguns and a .38 calibre revolver. Between them, they had close to 3,000 rounds of ammo, including armour-piercing rounds. These were weapons that were designed for war. They set their watches for a time of eight minutes.

The maximum time they believed they had until police would arrive. They then made their move. Armed with an AK-47 assault rifle each, they walked to the northern doorway of the bank, a distance of about 32 feet or 10 metres from where they had parked. The time was 9.17am.

They left their other assault rifles in the shed, along with a police radio. As they were entering the bank, an LAPD North Hollywood patrol vehicle was driving down Laurel Canyon Boulevard, just on a routine patrol. Pure luck. Right place at the right time.

Or wrong place, depending on which way you look at it. The patrol car was being driven by Officer Perello. Officer Farrell was in the passenger seat. After spotting Larry and Emil, they swung the police car into the southern parking lot of the Bank of America and took up positions behind their patrol car,

covering the bank. Farrell then made the first broadcast. There was a foyer containing three ATMs at the northern entrance to the bank. A customer was using one of the ATMs when he felt somebody approach him from behind. Turning around, he got quite the shock when he saw Larry and Emil.

Larry Phillips said, Okay, motherfucker, let's go. Not about to argue, the customer went willingly with Larry and Emil and walked inside the bank with them. As soon as they entered the bank, Emil started pouring his rifle into the roof, yelling, Everyone down.

Larry yelled, This is a fucking hold up. Everyone down, motherfuckers. Nobody argued. Although one of the tellers was able to hit the hold up alarm before diving to the floor. The shot's coming, shot's coming, open the door! The suspects are in the bank.

The suspects are inside of the bank. The two of them are in progress inside the bank. The bank of America, lower the friction load. Lower canyon north of Kittridge, the suspects are inside of the bank. Just like the previous bank robberies, Emil approached the teller door

and shot his way through it. The door was bullet resistant, designed to stop any pistol round. But it was no match for Emil's high-power automatic assault rifle. Once he got through the door, Emil yelled, Get the money or we will kill you.

Joe Villagrana, the branch's assistant manager, got up and made himself known. Emil aimed the rifle at him and told him to open the vault. As they were making their way there, Emil struck him in the back of the head with the rifle. There were about 30 people in the bank in total.

In court, there were about 30 people in the bank in total, including five people in the safety deposit box room. As Emil and Joe walked past that room heading towards the vault, Emil shot off more rounds into the roof, screaming at the people in the safety deposit box room to get out.

Larry remained out in the lobby of the bank, keeping control of the customers and other employees. Meanwhile, Officer Farrell kept the radio transmissions coming, telling the other police where he wanted people set up. T3, I want one unit on the north side, I want a unit on the south side, and I want a unit on the south, if possible. 1589 is just running car three,

T3, can you note the picture? 1583 wants the unit on the north side, on the south side and on the rear. T3, we want someone to position themselves safely to lock the front door. We don't think the suspect's only in here. 1592 is requesting a unit to safely position themselves in front of the front door.

If the suspect's possibly do not know, see, he is there. The next officers to arrive on scene were detectives Tracey Angela's and William Krulak. They arrived about 9.19am and pulled up in a parking lot opposite the bank's entrance, on the western side. Sergeant

Larry Haines was next on scene. He blocked off the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Archwood Street, which was north of the bank. So he had a view of the door Larry and Emile had entered. It's believed that Larry and Emile had no idea the police were outside at this time. They didn't have their police radio with them.

They left that out in the chef. There were a few civilian witnesses hanging outside the bank. Tracey Fisher, Michael Horan and Barry Golding. They saw Sergeant Haines arrive and they all approached him to let him know what they had seen and heard. I don't believe the advising.

If two witnesses over here say there's possibly two and three suspects in size, possibly AK-47s are wearing ski masks and dark clothing. Pitching out 40 advisers or two correction witnesses at the location vises two to three, suspects inside the bank wearing ski masks and AK-47s. Less than 30 seconds later,

Larry walked out of the bank. He must have been tipped somehow that the police were there, possibly hearing sorens or seeing a patrol car. Sergeant Haines made this broadcast. I think somebody just came out of the front door of the Bank of America. The advising unknown person has exited the bank. Larry walked out of the northern exit.

He casually looked around and surveyed the scene, not looking concerned at all. From his position, he probably would have only been able to see the patrol car of Sergeant Haines. So it might not have looked that bad to him. But there were other police there, not to mention the large amount still on the way.

After having a look around, Larry turned around and calmly walked back inside the bank. Shortly after this, Officer Martin Whitfield arrived and parked next to Sergeant Haines. While this was going on, the meal had gained entry to the vault, but progress was slow due to the cash being separated into different lockable boxes.

This was designed to slow down bank robberies, and it was working. Once he walked back inside the bank, Larry walked over to a security guard who was lying down on the lobby floor. He put his foot on his neck, pointed his rifle at him, and said, If you move, motherfucker, I will kill you.

When I tell you, I want you to move all these people to the vault. The security guard nodded. Larry then walked off, shooting his rifle into the roof, screaming, Nobody look at me, or I will kill you. Back inside the vault, a meal was becoming furious.

There was nowhere near the amount of money you thought there would be. Due to the large amount of recent robberies, including the two advanced knives and winnet car, that Larry and a meal had committed, the Bank of America had changed its delivery schedule. The North Hollywood branch

still hadn't received their cash delivery. He started firing his weapon out of frustration. The police outside the bank could hear all this automatic gunfire being let off. The call was put in for SWAT to attend. Employees, four shots have been fired from the second bank. Switching out 40 more shots are being fired from the suspect

at Laurel Canyon North of Kitchwich at the Bank of America. 50 and L.O.K. are requesting a SWAT reply on this location. Requesting 18 names for SWAT. Police had the bank surrounded. Officer Haynes and Whitfield were at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Archwood Street to the north. They had a good view of the northern doorway. Officer Brentlinger was east of their position,

covering the north-eastern side of the bank. First officers on the scene, Farrell and Pirello, were still in position in the southern parking lot. Detectives Krulak and Angela's had been joined by officers of Warravan and Officer Guy in the parking lot opposite the bank on the western side. And there were still plenty more police officers on the way. Back inside the vault,

Joe had placed $303,305 inside Emile's bag. But in amongst all that cash were three die packs. Emile walked out of the vault towards the teller door. Larry yelled out to a bank employee. Open the door. Open the fucking door. She complied. Larry then yelled to the security guard

that it was time to move the people to the vault. Larry and Emile had been inside the bank for seven minutes. It was now 9.24am. And it was at this time that Larry burst through the northern door of the bank, looking straight up towards the intersection of Archwood Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, where officers Haines and Whitfield were. Without a second of hesitation, Larry opened fire. First at Haines Patrol Car.

The three civilian witnesses were still in that area too. They all immediately died for cover when the shooting started. Whitfield was behind his patrol car, which was parked next to Haines. Larry took aim at that and unleashed on him as well. The bullets easily ripped through the car and struck Officer Whitfield. Pitching out Haines, what has been notified? Everybody stay down and wrap an automatic fire. The pan in the area was fired.

Everybody, I just have to do that. Just fire it. Only automatic weapons, but why is that? I was in Haines House, Pitching out 40s, requesting help. Pitching out 40 your location. What was the bank? Our unit, I know United United, rises large, shots fired. 500 block of Laurel Canyon.

Pitching out all units, officers requesting help. Laurel Canyon, North of Kitchwich, at the Bank of America, shots are being fired. All units, officer requested help at the bank. Pitching out. Pitching out. Pitching out. Pitching out. Pitching out.

America, stay down, shots are being fired. Automatic fire. Pitching out. Pitching out. What is being notified? Call three all officers, stay down. Shots are being fired from AK-47. There is an officer down.

Pitching out. Officer down. Officer fired. Our unit, I'm Pitching out. Laurel Canyon, Kitchwich up. Pitching out. Pitching out. Laurel Canyon, Kitchwich up.

Pitching out. Pitching out. As Larry started firing to the North, Officer Zboravan saw an opportunity. He was to the south-west of him, taking cover behind the locksmith's chaos, with Officer Guy and detectives Krulak and the Angelids. So in effect, Larry almost had his back turned

to Zboravan's position. Zboravan took the opportunity. He stepped out from behind his cover and fired two shots from his pump action shotgun. Some of the pellets did strike Larry in the back. One even found a gap in his body armour and struck him directly. The hit caused Larry to stumble,

but he didn't fall. He turned around to face Zboravan, who by now was making his way back behind the locksmith's chaos. Larry opened up on the chaos, firing over 100 rounds into the building. It was very flimsy cover. Bullets were going through the walls easily,

ricocheting everywhere. The officers hit the ground. Zboravan and Guy had body armour, but the two detectives didn't. Realising this, Zboravan placed his body over the top of Detective Angela's. And only a few seconds later,

he was shot twice. He started bleeding heavily. We're in a hill right here with the officers down. Get up. You're going to get an attack alert here. Any of you that know how many officers are down, we have one. More than one.

More than one. There's more than one officer down, so I don't think that's a nice attack alert. We're going to get an attack alert here. Go for it. Get the tank alert going. Open it. 5541,

the officer has been hit. We are declaring an attack alert. RA is en route. What is being notified to airlift? After unloading on the locksmith chaos, Larry turned around back to the north. Back towards Whitfield, Haynes and the three civilian witnesses.

Haynes was broadcasting on the police radio when Larry opened fire again. This time he struck Haynes, hitting him in the upper left arm. The patrol car was offering only minimal protection. The bullets were destroying it and mostly going straight through it. Tracy Fisher could see her cupboard dwindling away.

She tried to make a run for it, but she was struck in the foot before she got anywhere. She dropped back down behind the patrol car. Horan had also been struck with a bullet. So there was now three people behind the patrol car of Haynes who had been wounded, including Haynes himself. Back behind the locksmith chaos,

Detective Krulak asked officers of Borovan if he could run. Despite being shot, the Borovan said he could. They tried to get the safety using vehicles in the parking lot as cover, but Larry spotted them and unleashed more bullets. They were hit and cut with a glass and other fragments of the cars and the ground.

Krulak was struck in the right ankle. They managed to spot a doorway and made a run for it. Larry still peppering them with bullets. They managed to crash through it. They didn't have time to stop and open the door, so they just dived right through the glass. The doorway was an entrance to a dentist's surgery. Also using the cars as cover,

Detective Angela's and officer Guy tried to escape as well. Larry turned his attention to them and sprayed them with bullets. They dived for cover behind the cars. The total time Larry had been firing at the police was about three minutes. During that time, he fired approximately 300 rounds and wounded several officers and civilians. At 9.27am, Larry walked back inside the bank.

The police had no answer for that onslaught. One officer put it best when he said I was in the wrong place with the wrong gun. The bullets the police were using were incapable of penetrating Larry's body armour. And as most of his body was covered with body armour, the police were basically no chance of striking him. Larry, on the other hand, had an automatic assault rifle

with armour piercing rounds that were going straight through the police cars and walls with ease. It wasn't a fair fight. As Larry walked back inside the bank, Zabora Van was calling out for help inside the dentist's surgery. Dr Montice came to his aid. Detective Krulak was inside covering the entrance, just in case Larry decided to come after them.

Outside, more and more officers were arriving, taking up positions around the perimeter. At 9.30am, Larry walked back outside. This time, he had a meal with him. They both carried the bag of money through the doorway. As they walked out the door, they both opened fire. So this time, there were two people shooting at Officer Guy and Detective Angeles.

Upstairs in the dentist's office, Zabora Van was looking out the window and he could see what was going on. He yelled into the police radio. Officer Guy, I'm coming behind you! Officer Guy entered the building behind you. He was trying to direct his fellow officer to safety, but Officer Guy was pinned down by the heavy fire.

The bullets ripped through the car he was taking cover behind and he was struck in the right thigh. He took off his gun belt and used it as a makeshift tourniquet, which would actually save his life. Detective Angeles was also wounded. The police were basically helpless at this point. Most of the original responders had been wounded. SWAT still hadn't arrived.

They were actually on a training exercise at the police academy when the call came through. Larry and Amiel continued to fire at anything that moved. Despite being completely surrounded, they calmly left the entrance of the bank and walked out into the open. Already wounded officers Haynes and Whitfield were still behind their patrol cars with the three civilians

when they saw Larry and Amiel leave the bank and they were actually moving towards their position. They made a quick decision to try and protect the civilians and draw the fire away from them. So Haynes and Whitfield got up and ran during the fire towards them. Haynes managed to reach a nearby tree line taking cover, but he was wounded again in the left shin.

Whitfield took cover behind a nearby tree, but not before being shot through the thigh. The bullets shattered his femur, putting him in a really bad way. He managed to crawl his way to behind the tree. Not satisfied with badly wounding him, Larry and Amiel continued to fire heavily in his direction. They were trying to finish him off.

There were now officers down everywhere. I need an eye on you and please help improve the building before the parking lot. Officers requesting help in the building before the parking lot are possibly also having multiple officers down at Victory and Artwood. All you need to check for an open night. Whitfield, get back.

Haynes, I just requested help. What is your location? The builder's parking lot? Affirmative, Affirmative, south of Hughes in the parking lot and in the building. Multiple officers hit. Multiple officers hit in the building south of, south of Hughes Market.

Multiple officers hit. They're sending in a tank for the officers. There's some people on the right side of the bank. On the north side of the bank. Oh yeah, this is a city-wide tack alert. We are now on tack alert due to that unusual occurrence in North Hollywood Division. A city-wide tack alert this time.

It's out further north. Media helicopters had started to arrive by now and they were capturing the first pictures of this madness that would be broadcast around the world. A police helicopter was also circling above, giving updates on what they could see from the air. Larry carried the bag containing the money to the chef. Amir was still shooting, offering Larry covering fire.

By now the die packs had exploded, but a lot of the money was still actually usable. It wasn't all ruined. Larry dropped the bag next to the chef and grabbed some more ammunition. Amir wasn't too far behind him. They're going to the north. They're going to the front. How north?

The suspects are exiting through the north front. Damn. Suspect on the north side of the building. Walk around like nothing. They've got AK-47s, two of them in the back. Heavy body armor. The suspects are exiting the bank on the north side of the building armed with AK-47s wearing heavy body armor.

Yes, Larry. These guys are firing at the officers. They're all obsessed with stand-back. All officers, you've got party air units. The suspects are firing at all officers. Stay down, party air units. As Amir was making his way to the chef, he was grazed above the right eye with a bullet.

The wound was only a few millimeters away from killing him. He was extremely lucky. He dropped a one knee behind the chef while he assessed the damage. Once he realized it was OK, he jumped into the chef. He also had a gunshot wound to the calf by now. Larry, though, didn't seem too interested in getting in the car. He was still shooting at anything and everything. By now, a lot more officers were on scene,

and he himself was being fired upon from multiple positions. He was shot at least three times in this particular exchange, but none of the bullets put him down. The body armor was still holding out. Suspect, you guys are ready to get it? One suspect is in the right vehicle. One suspect is in the right vehicle. The right vehicle, that's the west.

The right vehicle is on the west side of the bank. One suspect is still firing at the officers to the rear location. All officers, stay down. One suspect is still firing at the rear of the bank. One suspect is in the right vehicle on the west side of the bank. Whilst waiting for SWAT to arrive, the North Hollywood watch commander put a call out for any available officers to go to a nearby B&B gun store and get some bigger guns

that would have the ability to get through Larry and Emile's body armor. There's nothing we rather can stop them. To any unit that is available to go to B&B and pick up some weapons, they're requesting someone to go to BAD and pick up weapons. 50 yards down, do you have any body available to go to B&B guns? Hang on, SWAT unit, come in. There's 41 who are spotted at B&B guns. Special agent is going.

15 crash 41 is going to get guns. Several units responded to the call. The store wasn't open when they got there, but they managed to get the staff's attention who were inside. They opened up and the shop owner instructed his staff to give the police whatever they wanted. Larry made his way back to the shav and swapped weapons. Why he didn't get into the car to start the getaway at this point?

Nobody knows. Instead, he took a knee in front of the shav, aimed upward and started firing at the helicopters. Larry was shot again, but the body armor was still holding up. He continued firing non-stop. Emile opened the passenger door beckoning for Larry to get in. The body armor was still holding up. Emile opened the passenger door beckoning for Larry to get in,

but Larry slammed the door shut. He was intent to stay outside the shav and provide covering fire. Suspect has retrieved additional weapons from the truck of his vehicle. Suspect is retrieving additional weapons from the vehicle and shots are being fired. Suspect is walking along. He's in the base. He's trying to get them to come after him.

He's got additional weapons. The truck is open on his vehicle. The guy out there, if somebody has a shot, take it. Suspect has. Line Suspect is walking east of the bank. Fifteen out ten advised that someone has a shot. Take it. Suspect taken.

The guy is also going down. He's got heavy body armor. Open the head. The suspect has heavy body armor to offer to our firing element. He's not going down. Despite taking multiple hits, Larry still wasn't going down. The body armor was too effective. That left only one place to aim.

The call was put out to aim for the head. Meanwhile, Officer Whitfield had been keeping radio contact, but it was starting to get touch and go. We have an officer down victory west of Law Canyon. He needs help. Call three. He is passing out. Two officers who responded to the Officer Down Call

were Anthony Kabunok and Todd Schmitz. I believe what happened is they were responding to Officer Whitfield's call. But in doing so, they came across Detective Angela's and Officer Guy, who were in charge of the officer down call. They were in charge of the officer down call. They were in charge of the officer down call.

They were in charge of the officer down call. They were in charge of the officer down call. They treated Angela's and Officer Guy, who were also wounded and still pinned down, taking cover in the parking lot opposite the bank. Officer Kabunok grabbed Officer Guy and pulled him up into the car. Detective Angela was able to get herself in.

Officer Schmitz then reversed harshly back out of the parking lot and got Angela's and Guy medical help. It's around this time that SWAT arrived. They immediately got to work rescuing the other injured officers and the injured civilians. They got hold of an armored car to assist in the rescue. The officer that's down at Lowell Canyon Archwood is unconscious. Shots are being fired still. The officer is down at Archwood and Lowell Canyon. 40 is about 30 yards north of Archwood on Lowell Canyon.

30 yards north of Archwood or Lowell Canyon. The officer is down unconscious. 40 is an officer that's behind the tree and he's got cover. The officer that's down has gotten cover behind the tree. The RA has been notified we're trying to get someone in for him. 50 is an armored car coming in with an armored car coming in full of police officers. The officer is moving. The officer is moving. Emil put the chev in motion deciding it was time to try and leave. The officer is moving. The officer is moving.

Emil drove slowly and Larry walked next to the car continuing to shoot at anything he could. Eventually they slowly made their way out of the parking lot turning right onto Archwood Street. Larry is still walking next to the chev. Larry walked along the footpath beside a large truck with a long trailer that was parked on the side of the road. Emil continued driving east on Archwood but officers were waiting. Larry got shot twice more. Forcing him back to take cover behind the truck trailer. But Emil was still driving east so they were now separated.

We've got one suspect driving the white vehicle. He's down from the north parking lot. We've got one suspect down foot. The suspect down foot is behind a long trailer. Truck trailer rigged. This way out here. Right here. Swat is driving and moving out of the way. Swat is moving in.

There's one suspect eastbound from the north side of the parking lot in the vehicle. The other one is off foot near the long trailer. Swat is en route to 6600 Low Canyon across from Del Taco for the off foot down. Officer is moving eastbound. They're moving eastbound to Archwood. The suspect is moving eastbound near Archwood. Officer Torres had a clear shot and unloaded 12 bullets into the chev. The shots caused Emil to accelerate harshly creating an even bigger gap between him and his partner.

Larry was in big trouble back behind the truck trailer. Suffering from several bad gunshot wounds one of which was going to be fatal if he didn't get attended to. Now his rifle jammed as well. And he couldn't clear it. He dropped the rifle and pulled out a Beretta pistol and started walking east again along Archwood. The suspect is walking toward one street east of Low Canyon from Archwood. The suspect is moving eastbound. Way up ahead he could see Emil still in the chev.

Emil wasn't waiting no. He had his own problems being pursued by other officers. And at least seven officers stood in Larry's path. Larry continued firing at them with the Beretta but he was shot yet again. He was now suffering about 11 gunshot wounds. The latest one struck him in the hand which caused him to drop the pistol. He picked it back up off the ground, put it under his chin and shot himself in the head. He died instantly.

Larry Phillips Jr. was 26 years old. Meanwhile up the road Emil was closely being followed by police on the ground and helicopters in the air. He quickly realized he needed to swap cars as the chev was leaking fuel, had flat tyres and wouldn't be drivable for much longer. He was still driving east on Archwood Street when a red Ford sedan drove towards him. Obviously seeing the shut up vehicle and Emil behind the wheel, the red Ford started to reverse. Emil got out of his chev and motioned for the red Ford to come back. It didn't. So Emil started firing at it.

All of this was being caught on footage. Times were getting desperate for Emil and to get away was now looking close to impossible. He got back into the chev and just sat there doing nothing. He sat there for over 10 seconds before finally acting again. He put the chev into drive and continued east along Archwood Street. He found another target. A 1962 Jeep Gladiator being driven by Bill Ma. Emil started firing through the windscreen at the Jeep.

And that was enough for Bill to stop and get out and run. Emil pulled up next to the Jeep. He got out and dumped his weapons and ammo into it. He got out and dumped his weapons and ammo into it. He got in and attempted to drive off, but he couldn't get the car started. And it was at this time that a police car containing three SWAT officers. Don Anderson, Steve Gomez and Richard Massa were flying down Archwood Street towards Emil. Emil was now in the Jeep facing west on Archwood.

The SWAT officers were heading east. So they were head on. In an incredibly brave move, he just drove straight at Emil. Pulling out the car at an angle directly in front of the Jeep. When he saw the SWAT officers pull up, Emil jumped out and took cover back behind the chef. So there was only about 30 feet or 10 meters distance between the SWAT officers and Emil. And there were three cars in between them. They then engaged in a fierce gun battle.

Went down Archwood. Shot fired, shot fired, shot fired. More shots of being fired, shots of being fired. Watch for crossfire, watch for crossfire. All units, watch for crossfire. On Archwood between Raptor and Hyde, Metro is engaging the suspect. All units, stay back. On Archwood between Raptor and Hyde, Air Unit advise all officers stay back.

Watch for crossfire. Emil was struck several times, but was saved by his body armor yet again. It didn't take the SWAT officers long to realise that if they fired underneath the vehicles, they would be able to hit the legs of Emil, which weren't protected by body armor. Their plan worked. They hit Emil multiple times in the legs. One bullet actually shattered his leg. But still, Emil wasn't giving up.

He kept trying to fire at the SWAT officers. The SWAT officers didn't know what to do. He kept trying to fire at the SWAT officers. But SWAT were winning the battle. Emil was hit several more times and eventually they finally stopped him. Emil collapsed dropping his weapon and SWAT pounced on him. That exchange lasted just under two minutes. The time was now 10.01 am.

After 44 minutes of mayhem, the North Hollywood shootout was over. But the scene was obviously still chaotic. Injured officers and injured civilians everywhere. And the police still weren't entirely sure if they had all the gunmen or if they had a gunman or a gunman. The scene and surrounding areas wouldn't be fully cleared until over 12 hours later. Emil was down, but he was still alert. He was placed under the guard of detectives James Bodge-Teckey and Officer John Futrell.

Emil had been shot 29 times. He stayed alive for more than a year. He was shot in the head. Emil had been shot 29 times. He stayed alive for just over an hour, but an ambulance never got to him in time. And he died at the scene. He was aged 30 years old. A few years later, Emil's family filed a civil suit against the LAPD

and specifically the two officers who were guarding him. The LAPD responded by saying it was standard procedure not to allow paramedics into what was called the hot zone, putting them in danger. They maintained they were of the belief that there was at least one and possibly more gunmen still on the loose. It was alleged in the court case that paramedics had made their way to Emil's location while he was still alive, but one of the officers told them to leave. It is also alleged other paramedics were heading that way,

but their attendance was cancelled by Officer Futrell over the air. Some people say they deliberately let him die. The LAPD maintained that they were following standard procedure. The jury couldn't decide. The case resulted in a hung jury. After that result, Emil's family ended up dropping their civil suit. During that 44 minutes, Emil and Larry had fired about 1100 rounds. The police had fired about 650 rounds.

Over 300 police officers attended in what was a city-wide tactical alert. 32 officers in total fired their weapons at Emil and Larry at one point or another. 17 officers were awarded the Medal of Valour, which is the LAPD's highest honour, awarded for bravery or heroism above and beyond the normal demands of police service. A total of 11 police and seven civilians were injured. But by some miracle, the only people that lost their lives that day were Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasarano. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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