The Los Angeles Police Department had been engaged in a gun battle for more than 20 minutes on the morning of

February 28, 1997 on the streets of North Hollywood, and they had been losing badly. As far as

anyone could tell, the injury count was now at 12 officers and at least two civilians. The two men who

had robbed the Bank of America on Laurel Canyon Boulevard

and started the gunfight also seemed to be injured, though the severity of the injuries was

impossible to know. An officer had seen the smaller of the two robbers, Larry Phillips,

double over after the officer had fired a shotgun round from long distance.

The shotgun was well out of its effective range, but it seemed like some of the buckshot

struck Phillips. If it did, it certainly didn't stop Phillips. It didn't even slow him down.

He was wearing body armor from his neck to his ankles, so there was no guarantee that the pellets did any damage at all.

The bigger of the two robbers, Emil Matasarano, had been limping badly as the two men began their escape.

He had clearly been shot in the leg, but he was still mobile.

They had started the robbery at 9-17 that morning,

collected about $300,000 in a duffel bag,

and then sustained a shootout with police officers outside the bank

when calls came in about a robbery in progress.

The LAPD's handguns and shotguns were no match

for the fully automatic, high-powered assault

rifles of the robbers.

The two gunmen had shredded everything in their path, cars, buildings, and people.

But mercifully, as yet, no one was dead.

The gunmen had left the front of the bank and moved into the parking lot where their

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