Episode 674: The Norco Shootout

Morbid

Morbid Network | Wondery

True Crime, Comedy, Exhibit C

4.5 • 95.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the afternoon of May 9, 1980, four heavily armed men walked into the Security Pacific Bank in Norco, California and demanded $20,000 in cash. Having seen the men enter the bank with their guns, employees of a different bank across the street called the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and deputies responded immediately.

When the bank robbers were confronted in the parking lot by law enforcement, a shootout began that would ultimately span more than forty miles across two counties, and when it was finally over, one sheriff’s deputy and two of the perpetrators were dead, eleven others were wounded. Moreover, the assault caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage from the nearly 2000 rounds that were fired, hitting houses, buildings, cars, among other things.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Bennett, Lorraine. 1980. "Suspects in Norco holdup charged with 120 felonies." Los Angeles Times, May 15: 3.

Gorman, Tom. 1982. "Kidnapping victim tells of ordeal at bandits' hands." Los Angeles Times, January 15: 22.

Houlahan, Peter. 2020. "Norco '80: Before the bank robbery." Los Angeles Daily News, June 2.

—. 2019. "40 years later, the aftermath of a deadly bank robbery still lingers in a small SoCal city." Los Angeles Magazine, May 28.

—. 2020. Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

Malnic, Eric, and Mike Goodman. 1980. "Suspect put up barbed wire at home." Los Angeles Times, May 11: 1.

Schaub, Michael. 2019. "Apocalyptic robbers botched a SoCal bank heist." Los Angeles Times, June 7.

Stein, Mark. 1980. "Shaken witnesses: 'There was fear...'." Los Angeles Times, May 11: 3.

Sun News Service. 1982. "Trio guilty in Norco holdup, deputy's murder." San Bernardino County Sun, July 24: 1.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go.
0:06.9	It's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion, no ads, just you, and early access to new episodes.
0:13.1	You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
0:17.8	You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.
0:24.1	Lamont Jones is shattered when his cousin dies just weeks after entering prison.
0:29.0	The official reports as natural causes, but bruises and missing teeth tell a different story.
0:34.0	Wondry presents Death County PA, a chilling true story of corruption and cover-ups. Follow
0:39.4	Death County PA on the Wondry app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:43.8	Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash, and this is morbid.
0:49.0	Music It's morbid, and I was just whispering about my computer screen being too bright while Elena said, hey weirdo.
1:08.0	So you might have heard that.
1:09.3	You probably heard that. You probably heard that.
1:11.2	You probably did.
1:14.0	Probably did.
1:15.1	Peas are a little hard, actually, currently.
1:18.3	Your girl ate shit yesterday.
1:20.7	Oh, my goodness.
1:22.3	Actually, before we get to that super duper fun tale, I feel I have like a big question to ask everybody. I feel like
1:29.7	there's so many terms for falling. Yeah, this is something we've learned over the last few days.
1:35.8	Like I eat shit is one of them. Like I didn't eat actual shit I fell. And then there's also
1:42.0	took a digger, which I say a lot. Like, oh, she took a digger.
1:45.8	Yeah. I've had some people look at me. Like I'm like, like, what do you mean?
	...

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