February 28, 1997 dawned like any other Friday in Los Angeles.

The traffic buzz, kids went to school, and the sun cast as usual golden hue over the palm-lined

streets of North Hollywood.

Nobody knew that by mid-morning, the neighborhood would become the setting for one of the most

violent and transformative confrontations in American law enforcement history,

a shootout that would pit two heavily armed bank robbers against an outgunned and out-prepared

police force, and which would ultimately change the future of policing in the United States.

The morning began calmly inside the Bank of America branch at 6600 L'Ollor Canyon Boulevard.

Tellers greeted customers with routine smiles, unaware that death was minutes away from walking

through their glass doors.

At 9 to 17 a.m., two men, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasarayano exited their white Chevrolet celebrity and

stepped into the building. Dressed head to toe in homemade body armor, each man wielded

illegally modified automatic weapons, Noreenko type 56 rifles, a Bushmaster XM15, and a converted

HK91.

Inc. They were armed with over 3,300 rounds of armor-piercing ammunition.

They had planned this meticulously, believing themselves to be unstoppable.

Phillips and Matasariano were no amateurs.

The two had robbed Banks before and had carefully prepared for this

house. Their armor could withstand pistol rounds and shotgun blasts. Their weapons outclass

anything the average patrol officer carried. Their getaway plan was strict. Be in and out

in eight minutes. But this time, things didn't go as planned. A patrol car rolled by just as the

men entered the bank, and suspicious activity was radioed in. Before the two robbers could even

...