Zero Hour (2004–…): Season 3, Episode 1 - North Hollywood Shoot Out - full transcript
As two armed-robbers terrorise staff and customers inside a Bank of America branch in San Fernando Valley, North Hollywood, they are oblivious to the mounting police presence outside the building. The scene is set for the most extraordinary and violent shootout in modern American police history.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
NARRATOR: A breathtaking act of
violence on the streets of Los Angeles
plays live on national television.
This is no cops and
robbers movie. It's real.
Two armed men have
hit a North Hollywood bank
and seem to be cornered by police.
But these two haven't
just turned up to rob a bank.
Dressed like post-apocalyptic warriors,
they take on the police
with calculated savagery,
blasting them with
vastly superior firepower.
DET. TRACEY ANGELES: Their purpose
was to kill law enforcement that day
and send a message to other agencies that
we can't be stopped.
NARRATOR: The hour of the North
Hollywood shootout would convulse America.
The sight of two paramilitary-style gunmen
declaring war on a suburban street
would raise the bar for criminal violence,
and ratchet up a climate of fear.
For the gunmen themselves,
this is the hour to act out their
twisted take on the American Dream.
Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu
seek instant wealth and fame
live on the morning news.
Los Angeles on a cool,
clear winter's morning.
As 9:00 approaches,
the Friday rush hour is subsiding,
and on Laurel Canyon
Boulevard in North Hollywood,
the Bank of America will open its
doors for the busiest day of the week,
when hundreds of hourly-paid workers
come in to cash their paychecks.
This will be the main
battleground for an urban war,
which will also be fought out on
a nearby street called Archwood...
At a dentist's office in a shopping mall...
And around a key-making kiosk.
A house, deep in the suburbs of LA.
(NEWSCASTER SPEAKING)
Inside are two out-of-work misfits
who, within the next hour, will
achieve international notoriety.
Strewn around the house are
automatic rifles, ammunition,
hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash
and copies of the movie Heat,
which famously portrays
a violent bank robbery
that spills onto the streets of Los Angeles
and turns into a running
gun battle with the police.
Emil Matasareanu is 30 years old,
but reportedly immature for his age.
Hey.
Pills.
NARRATOR: He's a loner,
whose one good friend
has not been well-chosen.
Larry Phillips Jr.
Phillips, who's 26, is a skilled conman
and the son of a small-time
crook from Denver.
On the morning of February the 27th,
both are known to have taken Phenobarbital,
an epilepsy drug that interferes
with nerve signals to the brain
and slows body movement.
Phillips and Matasareanu
have already committed a string
of increasingly brutal robberies,
stealing more than $1.5 million
from banks and armored trucks,
and killing a security guard in cold blood.
The robbers have always
used the same method of attack.
Assault rifles, black paramilitary outfits,
and no hesitation in
resorting to extreme violence.
Opening time at the Bank
of America on Laurel Canyon,
and Juan Villagrana, the
assistant branch manager,
leaves his desk to unlock the main doors.
He is one of about 20 staff on duty today.
Good morning! Come on in.
NARRATOR: On Friday mornings,
bank employees are on heightened alert.
It's a bank robber's
favorite time to strike,
because the safes are usually
filled with extra payday cash.
Phillips and Matasareanu strap
on customized bulletproof vests.
Phillips has protection
for his legs as well,
but Matasareanu, at 283 pounds,
is perhaps too overweight
to move freely with leg armor.
The body armor weighs less
than the chips on their shoulders.
Both have been in trouble with the law.
Phillips had been caught three
times trying to pull property scams
and had been barred from
working as a real estate agent.
Matasareanu was accused of assaulting
a patient in his mother's care home
and eventually the
home was forced to close.
Both men believe that the
authorities are out to get them.
Shaking down banks must
seem a perfect career choice
for two outcasts obsessed with
money and powerful weapons.
And a hatred for cops.
(WOMAN SPEAKING OVER POLICE SCANNER )
They now head for a confrontation
that both are determined to win,
whatever the cost.
On Laurel Canyon,
the Bank of America is
serving its first customers.
Security guards keep a watchful
eye for any signs of trouble.
With cash reserves at their highest,
the hour after opening on Fridays
can be the most dangerous time.
In a shopping mall across
the street from the bank,
dentist Jorge Montes is
getting ready for his first patients.
He thinks it's going to be a quiet day.
His appointment book is only half full.
I've been in practice for over 25 years
but I have been in my
location in North Hollywood
for the past 17 years.
My wife also practices with me.
Her name is Dr. Teresa Romero.
And I have a staff of around five.
And that day everyone was
there, except for our patients.
(WOMAN SPEAKING OVER POLICE SCANNER)
NARRATOR: Phillips and Matasareanu
make the turn into Archwood Street.
They are now just a few
hundred meters from the bank.
They have planned their raid in detail,
even calculating how much
money should be in the vault.
But there are some big
holes in their scheme.
Both are loners
and don't know anyone
in the criminal underworld
who could launder the stolen cash.
They don't even have a getaway driver.
The robbers' aging car
arrives at the bank's north parking lot.
The engine is left running.
If they were interested in stealing
cash and making a quick escape,
they could do it with little
more than a couple of pistols.
But they carry more than 60 pounds
of guns, armor and
ammunition into the bank.
Two LA police officers cruise
along Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
They're about to play a crucial
role in the North Hollywood shootout.
They catch a glimpse of the bank raid
just as it begins.
-Did you see that? -See what?
We've got a bank robbery. Pull over.
(GRUNTS)
Shit!
(DOOR OPENS)
(GRUNTS)
This is a holdup! Everybody
get down on the ground!
Close your eyes and don't look!
(FIRING GUN)
Keep your heads down!
If you move, I will kill you!
NARRATOR: Matasareanu strikes
79-year-old Mildred Nolte over the head.
If you don't want to die, get
all the way down on the floor!
He then threatens another
bank customer, Javier Orozco.
This 43 requesting assistance.
We've got a possible 211 in progress.
They were in a police
car out on the street,
and they heard these shots
being fired inside a closed bank.
That's how loud they were.
Shots fired! Bank of America.
Laurel Canyon, north of Kittridge.
We have shots fired!
ANGELES: When we first
arrived we saw the black and white
which was the original officers
that saw the men go into the bank.
NARRATOR: Detective Tracey
Angeles and her partner John Krulac
arrive within two minutes of the first call
that a robbery is in progress.
ANGELES: John and I elected
to go into the west parking lot
directly across from the bank.
-Do you see anything? -Not yet.
ANGELES: There was a key
shack at the edge of the sidewalk
and Dr. Montes' office was there.
Well, there's no getaway
or layoff people I can see.
There was no sense of panic in
anybody, so we started thinking
that maybe this could
be a false alarm or...
You know, could be one guy with a handgun.
Something that, you know,
we would have total control over.
NARRATOR: Inside the bank,
Matasareanu threatens a security guard.
(SECURITY GUARD GROANS)
If you move I'll kill you.
When I tell you, I want you to
move all these people to the vault.
You got it?
NARRATOR: Phillips moves to breach
the last line of safety for the bank staff,
a reinforced glass security door.
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
Sergeant Larry Dean Haynes
stops his car just north of the bank.
In the next few minutes
he will be the first Los
Angeles police officer
to discover how lethally
dangerous the robbers really are.
15L40. We have more
shots fired inside the bank.
NARRATOR: Montes'
first patient is now overdue.
You know why we have no patients?
There's four cops hiding outside.
They're aiming their guns to the bank.
MONTES: We all went to the
windows to see what was going on.
Well, to the north side I
had seen three cop cars.
To the south side of the bank, I
had seen another few cop cars.
This is going to end real quick.
I figured they're going to come out, they're
going to be surrounded, it's going to end.
We just expected to see
another regular bank robbery,
because this was about the fifth
bank robbery that we were witnessing.
And our patients usually say,
"Oh, look, those guys
are running out there,"
and so we expected the same thing.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
When we were back behind
the key shack, it was myself,
Detective John Krulac,
Officer Stuart Guy and
Officer James Zboravan.
OFFICER STUART GUY: Because we were
five minutes away, we were one of the first
police units that arrived at the scene,
and we positioned ourselves
directly across the street
from Bank of America.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy is
supervising James Zboravan,
a trainee with just two
months' experience on the force.
I'll just check my partner.
-How are we doing? -Good.
Are you locked and loaded?
I am, and I've got a clear target.
Okay, stay hidden.
OFFICER JAMES ZBORAVAN:
Going back on Academy training,
you were looking for good
cover, good concealment
for when, at some point, they
were going to exit the bank,
stereotypically with you
know, a gun in one hand,
a bag of money in the other,
you know, cops and robbers.
They would see us and
give up or run back in,
take hostages...
You know, you call SWAT
and hopefully 12 hours later,
the incident's over, you
know, safely and peacefully.
Keys to the vault. Now!
Who's got 'em?
-(GROANS) -Open it!
-It takes two keys. -What?
It takes two keys.
Who's got the other one?
The manager.
-Get him. -Mary.
Move, move.
Give it to him, now! Go!
Get.
Open up, now!
(GRUNTS)
Do it!
Fill the bag!
NARRATOR: Phillips fails
to spot a carefully laid trap.
Hidden among the cash
is a small explosive pack.
Come on!
It's designed to spray a blue dye
over the bank notes if they're stolen,
rendering them worthless.
Faster, faster!
Phillips expects to get his hands
on more than $800,000 in cash,
but the bank had recently cut back
on the money it holds in its vaults.
And when they only found
$300,000 to $400,000,
they were quite upset.
Spent a couple of extra minutes in the bank
looking for the money and, um,
actually roughing up the
bank manager a little bit,
um, to try to ascertain where the rest
of the money was, and it wasn't there.
Where's the ATM money? You've got millions!
NARRATOR: The police presence
near the bank grows quickly.
Among the hundreds of police
officers who've responded to
the 211 robbery-in-progress call
is John Caprarelli.
I stopped about 100, maybe
80 yards south of the bank,
and rounds were just going off.
It was louder than I'd ever heard.
NARRATOR: He heads
off to confront the gunmen,
armed with just his standard-issue pistol.
Phillips and Matasareanu
have form as bank robbers,
but a bizarre incident four years earlier
could have cut short their violent careers.
48S northbound Pacific and Broadway.
In pursuit of a red Ford Thunderbird.
Three, Romeo, Whiskey, India, 9-4-2.
Request warrant and registration check.
NARRATOR: In October 1993,
Ian Grimes, a Glendale
robbery homicide detective,
chased down a car that had
spun out wildly in front of him.
He was about to make a startling discovery.
Sir, did you see me
trying to pull you over?
Not at first, no.
Do you have a driver's license?
No, I don't.
Why not?
Must have left it at home.
Sir, I want you to step out of the car
and move around to the side here, please.
What's your name, sir?
John Doe.
Your name's John Doe?
Uh-huh.
This your car, Mr. Doe?
This? No. This is, uh...
It's my mom's.
Right. Sir, I want you to turn around,
put your hands behind your head.
I don't want you to move,
you understand me?
Do you have any concealed weapons?
No.
Stay in the car! Put your hands on
the trunk and keep your feet apart.
NARRATOR: In the trunk of the car, police
recovered a complete bank robbery kit
including semiautomatic guns, ammunition,
gas masks and disguises.
But California prosecutors were not able to
secure a conviction on any serious charges.
After plea bargaining,
Phillips and Matasareanu
were sentenced on lesser offenses,
including declaring a false name
and carrying a concealed weapon.
ZBORAVAN: One of the charges
was conspiracy to commit bank robbery.
It's amazing to me that based
on all the evidence at hand,
um, they weren't able to
garner a conviction for that.
NARRATOR: To the astonishment
of many local police officers,
a judge would later order that most
of the weapons seized from Phillips
and Matasareanu be returned to them.
Security! Get up!
Move!
Go! Get up!
What are you waiting for? Go! Go!
Damn it, go!
What are you doing still
back there? Let's go, move!
You too! Move, move! Move it!
NARRATOR: Eight minutes after
they'd burst into the bank, the two gunmen
are ready to leave.
Staff and customers
are forced into the vault.
Fortunately for them,
Matasareanu does not push
the airtight door completely shut.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Phillips,
meanwhile, steps outside.
What the hell is that?
ZBORAVAN: Eugene Phillips exited the bank
and walked down the
steps and onto the sidewalk.
Dressed in all black and all you
could see was, you know, the eyes
cut out around his face.
NARRATOR: If Phillips is surprised
by the growing police presence,
he doesn't show it, and calmly
walks back inside the bank.
We gotta go!
Phillips reloads.
The Battle of Laurel
Canyon is about to begin.
Larry Phillips Jr. walks out of the bank
and transforms a routine robbery
into a devastating assault
on the Los Angeles police.
Shit, shit.
The first casualty is Dean Haynes.
15L40, I've been hit.
You'd better send a tac alert here.
-(GUN FIRING) -(GLASS SHATTERING)
(BULLETS RICOCHETING)
We've got several civilians hit also.
ZBORAVAN: I lifted up a shotgun
and fired two shotgun blasts.
I find out later, um,
I had hit him with a total of
eight pellets in his... in his back.
Seven absorbed into the body armor,
which at the time we
didn't know they had on,
and one actually went a little bit low
and hit him in the tail bone.
So right after striking him,
he immediately spun,
locked eyes in my direction
and uh, started shooting.
He grabbed me by the front of my shirt
and he said, "Hit the ground."
He threw me on the
ground and got on top of me
and that's when I knew that
we probably were in a lot more trouble than
we realized.
The bullets were going
through the little key shack.
Going through the metal
machinery inside there
and exiting the back.
Two of which at that time struck me,
one in the lower back, one in the hip
that exited my butt cheek.
We realized that, "Hey,
"We're no contest. We... we
cannot compete against AK-47s."
The rounds of bullets
were literally just hitting everywhere.
The cars, the kiosk.
It was just like raindrops,
except these raindrops
were rain drops of death.
As they're shooting, I stayed
watching because I thought
the gunmen are not going
to shoot at the second floor,
they're going to be shooting level.
That's the only reason I stayed there.
Now Dr. Romero, she
was more safety conscious,
so she starts telling all
my assistants and myself
"Get away from the
windows, get back, get back."
There were things that
you thought, "Is it a movie?
"Is it something that's not real?"
You don't expect it until you start
seeing blood coming from the officers.
That's when I realized
that this is something that,
we're in the way of these guns, so when
the bullets would hit our
building, we would duck for cover.
We're going to die.
ANGELES: There was a space that
we had to cover between the key shack
and the first line of parked cars,
like maybe 75 to 83 feet
we had to cover of open space.
But we started to run.
They were in front of me.
(GUN FIRING)
I fell. I had a radio in my left hand,
and I had my gun in my right
hand, and when I fell I fell hard.
I went for my weapon, and
when I went for my weapon
he started firing again.
I had no cover.
I kept feeling that I was
going to get shot in the back.
I can remember thinking that
I didn't want to die in that parking lot,
not like that.
ZBORAVAN: Detective John
Krulac was shot in the ankle.
He went down and immediately hopped back up
and asked me if I was okay to run.
He then put his hand on my
shoulder and we started running.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy and Tracey
Angeles stay behind in the parking lot.
The cars offer little protection.
I can remember
watching them run and
trying to decide, do I run or do I stay?
ZBORAVAN: Tracey recalls
the suspect shooting at
Detective Krulac and myself,
the bullets hitting at our feet and
sparking off the asphalt as we were running.
As I jumped through the glass
doors, most likely his bullets
made it there before
me and helped shatter it.
That's why I didn't receive any,
you know, cuts from the glass.
(GROANING)
We need a doctor!
Help!
ZBORAVAN: Detective Krulac and
myself laid down on the dentist's floor
right at the doorway so we
could look down the stairs
in case the suspects decided to
walk across the street towards us.
Get him up. Take care of him.
Detective Krulac took the shotgun
and pointed it down the stairs,
and if the suspects came
to the bottom of that stairwell,
Detective Krulac would
have had 'em in his sights.
-Where are you hit? -On the lower back.
Everything hurts!
MONTES: I right away
yelled out to my staff,
"Bring me gauze and hydrogen peroxide."
It is a noise that you
will never ever forget.
It's deafening,
um, due to the close
proximity of us and the shooters
you could taste the,
I want to say gun powder, I'm
not sure if that's the appropriate
taste that I was tasting, but
it was a metallic, powdery
awful burned taste.
(YELLS)
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy takes the
full force of an armor-piercing round.
GUY: My leg went up
in the air like a rag doll.
And it pulled me, and when the leg
just came down, still connected
by my skin to my body,
it was as though somebody
pulled me from under my legs
and lifted me up and I landed with my...
with my buttocks against
the ground like I'm sitting,
but my leg completely laying to my right.
(GROANING)
MONTES: When I finally find
this gushing of blood coming out,
the gash was about 7 inches.
It was about 2 inches
wide, about 2 inches deep.
And I just ripped opened the
shirt and you could see this
blood just starting to come out.
ZBORAVAN: It's instilled
in you in the very beginning,
you do not separate from your partner.
So as we're up there and I'm being treated,
I'm thinking, oh God, I left my partner,
he's down in the parking
lot, I'm going to get fired.
Officers down. We're in
the dental surgery in the mall.
Officers Guy and Angeles.
Get back to the surgery.
NARRATOR: Guy tries
desperately to save himself.
This is coming face-to-face with death.
There is just no other way to describe it.
I was very scared...
but, yet...
I was calm.
I was very calm.
NARRATOR: Tracey Angeles
is just a few meters away,
but is pinned down by a stream of gunfire.
ANGELES: His hands were
smoking like they were on fire.
And there was a huge hole.
MONTES: Dr. Romero, my wife,
is the one who brought me gloves,
which I'm glad, because there's
blood and there's glass everywhere.
As I'm treating Zboravan and
I'm putting hydrogen peroxide,
and there's bubbling of the blood,
and the glass, it's inside there.
Now, the gash is so deep
there's a little opening into
the pleural cavity where the lungs breathe,
and so you can hear the kind of sound,
the regurgitation, so I'm
sticking my finger into this space
just so it doesn't get into that area.
GUY: I took off my big gun belt
and I applied a tourniquet on my leg.
I was pulling on that belt.
As I put on the tourniquet
to slow down the bleeding
my gun in my left hand
and praying with my tongue,
so I was like this the whole time.
ANGELES: When I fell in the parking lot,
I felt for sure,
"Okay, I'm going to die, there's no way...
"He's firing, I have no cover
and I'm not going to survive this."
And I can remember it was a pretty lonely
feeling to feel
that way. So,
I remember thinking that
I didn't want Stuart to feel
how I felt.
No human being should
ever feel that lonely.
- Are you okay?
- Can't do anything with my ankle.
Let me see.
MONTES: There's a piece of shrapnel,
probably about 2 inches,
sticking out of his lower right ankle.
- Can you pull it out?
- No, I don't think so.
Might be too dangerous.
I just don't know what I can do.
Better we wait for the hospital, okay?
MONTES: From being a dentist,
I've had so much first aid knowledge.
I didn't take it out, I left it there.
I stopped some of the
bleeding with hydrogen peroxide
and the sterile gauze.
Put his sock over it.
I said, "We'll get to yours later,
yours isn't life-threatening right now."
I want to kill those bastards.
Got to get everyone to the back
of the building. It's not safe here.
NARRATOR: Still bleeding heavily,
the injured men are led to a storeroom
at the back of the dentist's surgery.
The actions of Montes
and the dental surgery staff
have probably saved the officers' lives.
ANGELES: Come on. Keep moving. Come on.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy and Tracey Angeles
are rescued under fire by LAPD officers
Todd Schmitz and Anthony Carbunoc.
ANGELES: We resorted to the
training they provided us on how to do
an officer rescue, and I got the bad leg.
He was laying in a supine position,
so we could not close the back
door, 'cause the leg was out.
It was hanging out of the door.
We took gunfire again
and one of the tires blew.
So when we got around the corner of
the building and we knew we were safe,
I had to close the back door,
'cause it was swinging and
we were afraid it was gonna
hit the leg and damage
the leg some more. So...
Um, we had no choice
but to tuck the leg into the car.
NARRATOR: The robbers have stolen $303,000,
half a million less than they'd expected.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: As the battle intensifies,
police helicopter pilot Charles Perriguey
is flying directly above the two gunmen.
CHARLES PERRIGUEY: More
police officers became involved in
shooting at the suspects, and
the suspects became more involved
at shooting at... at more and
more police officers and um,
unfortunately some
civilians that were the in area.
I could see bullets actually impacting
the torso of the suspects.
Um,
they were hitting the armor that
they were wearing and with each hit
you'd see like a puff of smoke.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
PERRIGUEY: They had some
self-discipline about themselves.
They were on some narcotics,
but to be in the middle of a gunfight
like that and not to be running
about was very unusual.
NARRATOR: Phillips and Matasareanu
head towards the getaway car,
its engine still running in
the bank's north parking lot.
(MUFFLED SPLATTERING)
A remote sensor sets off
the dye pack inside the bag.
Leave it.
The cash is now unusable.
(GROANS)
Matasareanu is peppered with
gunshot to his unprotected right leg.
Barely able to walk, he
retreats to the getaway car.
He seems to have given up on any plan
to take the battle to the police.
Phillips has other ideas.
Almost immediately, he
takes a gunshot to his left wrist.
But he seems merely
to intensify the attack.
CAPRARELLI: Then I knew
we had to stop these guys,
that's all I was thinking about, is,
you know, you've just got to get in there.
NARRATOR: John Caprarelli is
among a small group of officers
who get to within 10 meters of the gunmen.
CAPRARELLI: The AK-47 rounds
just went through that wall like
it wasn't even there.
Then we kind of regrouped at that point.
NARRATOR: Caprarelli retreats,
and runs to what he thinks will be a
more secure position on Archwood Street.
OFFICER 1: They're moving the car.
OFFICER 2: Are they the suspects?
OFFICER 1: Yeah. On
the other side of that van.
NARRATOR: The gunmen
make their first move to escape.
Matasareanu, driving the
car, appears at one point
to implore Phillips to get in.
But Phillips seems still
to relish the confrontation.
He switches to a high-powered
Heckler & Koch rifle,
a weapon well-suited to attacking
the police and news helicopters that
now swarm above him.
PERRIGUEY: It was something
I've had happen to me before.
I'm a combat veteran from Vietnam,
flying Marine Corps helicopters, so,
it wasn't a new experience,
but it certainly was not one
that I enjoyed suffering
through, but we stayed.
NARRATOR: Phillips' Heckler &
Koch is damaged by a police bullet.
He reverts to his AK-47
and hands Matasareanu an M16 rifle.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: These are the last
few seconds in which the two gunmen
act as a team.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
PERRIGUEY: As they moved out of the parking
lot, Phillips had at least two different
jams in his weapon and he
stopped to clear those jams,
and I don"t think Matasareanu understood
what was happening in that regard,
that his partner was not
staying abreast of him.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Now behind a car
in Archwood Street, John Caprarelli
yet again finds he's in the line of fire.
I knew these guys were getting shot at,
but they just kept
going. I looked to my left,
and it looked to me he
was still firing at the officers.
I was thinking, I'm going
to stop this guy, finally.
Here's my chance.
I ran to that corner, I
stopped at the corner
and I fired six rounds,
and they didn't do anything.
I knew some of them hit him,
but he just slowly turned with the AK-47
in his hands and I turned,
that fire hydrant was in the way,
it was like, "I'm going right over it."
And somewhere in there his gun jammed.
(CLICKING)
You know, it's just... it's a miracle.
It gave me those seconds somewhere in there
to be able to get across the
street and get some cover.
NARRATOR: Matasareanu,
meanwhile, struggles with an almost
undriveable getaway car.
He makes several attempts
to hijack another vehicle.
Remarkably, civilian
cars are still driving by.
We made several mistakes during this
incident and I think probably one of them
that we all acknowledge was
that we didn't cordon off the area
maybe as good as we could have.
But having said that, um...
It would have taken a lot of police
cars just to barricade intersections
and a lot of people, I believe, were just
getting out of their house,
getting in their car and driving
to the market or wherever they were going.
So they probably would have been inside
any cordoned-off area
that we would have created.
I'm not making that as an
excuse. It's just the situation.
NARRATOR: He limps badly,
the leg wound still bleeding.
He has none of Phillips'
determination to fight,
and is focused only on a desperate
search for some way to escape.
He edges his shattered car forward,
its windscreen so badly
damaged that he has to
drive with his head out of the door.
Phillips abandons his AK-47
and prepares to make his last stand.
Once again, John Caprarelli
decides to confront him.
CAPRARELLI: He started
coming out, without the AK,
and I didn't really get a long look.
Eventually he did produce the 9 millimeter.
I fired several rounds,
I went back for cover.
Then I came back out...
after reloading and didn't realize that
he had walked up closer
and now he was just
from one corner to the next.
Caught me off guard. I mean
there was a split second there
when I came out, expecting
him to still be by the truck.
That he's now facing me,
and I saw the gun, the arm,
his eyes all lined up.
And he fired a couple of
rounds, as I dove out of the way
and luckily the rounds went into the car.
We were all firing now
from behind the car at him.
(GROANS)
When he fired those last two rounds at me,
somebody there hit his hand.
That was it for him. He basically said,
"This is it, I'm done."
And that's when he... he picked
it up and put it under his chin.
And he put a round in himself as we were
you know, just peppering him.
My immediate reaction was, "Who shot him?"
I didn't see any police officer
in the bushes next to the sidewalk.
I hadn't seen one before,
I didn't see one then.
And I knew it was a close shot
just by the nature of the shot,
I could tell it was a very close shot.
And it didn't dawn on me
that Phillips had shot himself.
I'm looking for a police officer
that shot him I couldn't find him
and it bugged me. (CHUCKLES)
We heard a weird hissing sound
coming from that direction, and we thought,
with all else that was going
on, that there might have been
some kind of explosive device that...
You know, he was hooked up
to... He was just going to blow.
So we didn't approach. I mean, there were
several minutes, we just
kind of maintained our position
and watched and the sound kept going.
And I later found out it
was one of the tires on the
tractor trailer that had been hit
and was losing air.
NARRATOR: With Matasareanu still
attempting to drive away along Archwood,
SWAT officers Rick Massa,
Steve Gomez and Don Anderson
arrive at a police cordon.
They pull out bulletproof
armor and M16 rifles.
For the first time since
the shooting began,
the police will have firepower
that can match the opposition.
Okay, guys, AK-47s, armor-piercing
bullets, keep your cover.
Gomez, you go wide to the front of the
car, Anderson, you take the back with me.
NARRATOR: The SWAT team
is now racing towards a duel
with Emil Matasareanu.
Larry Phillips Jr. is the first
fatality of the Hollywood shootout.
Among the first to reach
him is John Caprarelli.
We slowly approached,
and when we got up to him
there were three or four of us,
and we turned him over
and we handcuffed him.
We took the ski mask off
and he was obviously dead at that time.
Just hit me,
this is the guy... this is the
guy that I've been listening to
for 45 minutes.
NARRATOR: Further along Archwood,
Emil Matasareanu finally
succeeds in hijacking
another getaway vehicle.
He fires several rounds at
a 1961 Jeep pickup truck.
Its driver, William Marr,
sprints away from danger.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu frantically moves
his weapons and ammunition to the Jeep.
(GUNSHOT)
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: The keys
have been left in the ignition.
But when he tries to start
the engine, nothing happens.
Matasareanu doesn't know that older trucks
like this have a separate starter button.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu
retreats to the back of the car
and loses his opportunity to get
a clear shot at the SWAT officers.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: The SWAT officers
fire underneath the vehicles,
hitting Matasareanu 29
times, and shattering his left leg.
PERRIGUEY: He finally stopped shooting,
laid his weapon down, and
shortly thereafter the SWAT officers
carefully and with good caution,
moved to a position
where they could see him
full-on and move in and
take him into custody.
A very good job by those three officers.
They did a hell of a job.
It's amazing. The...
Tenacity with the guys
that were getting fired at,
to stay in their positions, to
broadcast what was going on,
and I've just got to mention
what a job they did. You know...
They mention, you know,
there were 350 officers there,
but you know what, it was 35
that held those guys in there.
Don't move.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
(COUGHING)
Why don't you just
put a bullet in my head?
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu
will die at the scene,
slowly bleeding to death
from multiple gunshot wounds.
The only fatalities in the
North Hollywood shootout
were Larry Phillips Jr.
And Emil Matasareanu.
But the casualty figures
could have been much worse.
The Los Angeles police
were hopelessly outgunned,
but many still took
the fight to the robbers.
GUY: That day we fought,
and we fought and we fought,
and it was literally like
200 little dark blue ants,
nibbling and biting on this
humongous
tarantula.
You know, and little by little
we got 'em.
NARRATOR: Eleven police officers
and seven civilians were wounded.
But the damage went
beyond physical injuries.
There was a lot of... a lot of stress.
A lot of stress.
Uh, I was waking up every night.
1:00, 1:30 every night,
and going back and reliving, you know,
what was happening and wondering,
you know, "Why did that gun jam?
"What if I hadn't?"
You know?
And, "What if I had just gotten
one of those rounds, you know,
"that went past the body armor?
I could have stopped it sooner."
Just over and over and over
again you think about that.
I was told
first responders,
police officers, firefighters, you
start out with an empty gas tank,
and as you go through your career,
the things that you see and
do start filling that gas tank up.
Yeah, there were three guys that I
used to work with, took their own lives.
And it wasn't just because
of that shootout, but
for those of us that were there,
we know that
that was another little piece of
filling the gas tank.
NARRATOR: After his terrible injury,
Stuart Guy still has a
titanium plate in his leg.
He has now retired from the police.
Detective Tracey Angeles
and officer James Zboravan
still serve in the Los
Angeles Police Department.
As does John Caprarelli,
the cop who faced down the gunmen
three times that February morning
and emerged unscathed.
NARRATOR: A breathtaking act of
violence on the streets of Los Angeles
plays live on national television.
This is no cops and
robbers movie. It's real.
Two armed men have
hit a North Hollywood bank
and seem to be cornered by police.
But these two haven't
just turned up to rob a bank.
Dressed like post-apocalyptic warriors,
they take on the police
with calculated savagery,
blasting them with
vastly superior firepower.
DET. TRACEY ANGELES: Their purpose
was to kill law enforcement that day
and send a message to other agencies that
we can't be stopped.
NARRATOR: The hour of the North
Hollywood shootout would convulse America.
The sight of two paramilitary-style gunmen
declaring war on a suburban street
would raise the bar for criminal violence,
and ratchet up a climate of fear.
For the gunmen themselves,
this is the hour to act out their
twisted take on the American Dream.
Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasareanu
seek instant wealth and fame
live on the morning news.
Los Angeles on a cool,
clear winter's morning.
As 9:00 approaches,
the Friday rush hour is subsiding,
and on Laurel Canyon
Boulevard in North Hollywood,
the Bank of America will open its
doors for the busiest day of the week,
when hundreds of hourly-paid workers
come in to cash their paychecks.
This will be the main
battleground for an urban war,
which will also be fought out on
a nearby street called Archwood...
At a dentist's office in a shopping mall...
And around a key-making kiosk.
A house, deep in the suburbs of LA.
(NEWSCASTER SPEAKING)
Inside are two out-of-work misfits
who, within the next hour, will
achieve international notoriety.
Strewn around the house are
automatic rifles, ammunition,
hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash
and copies of the movie Heat,
which famously portrays
a violent bank robbery
that spills onto the streets of Los Angeles
and turns into a running
gun battle with the police.
Emil Matasareanu is 30 years old,
but reportedly immature for his age.
Hey.
Pills.
NARRATOR: He's a loner,
whose one good friend
has not been well-chosen.
Larry Phillips Jr.
Phillips, who's 26, is a skilled conman
and the son of a small-time
crook from Denver.
On the morning of February the 27th,
both are known to have taken Phenobarbital,
an epilepsy drug that interferes
with nerve signals to the brain
and slows body movement.
Phillips and Matasareanu
have already committed a string
of increasingly brutal robberies,
stealing more than $1.5 million
from banks and armored trucks,
and killing a security guard in cold blood.
The robbers have always
used the same method of attack.
Assault rifles, black paramilitary outfits,
and no hesitation in
resorting to extreme violence.
Opening time at the Bank
of America on Laurel Canyon,
and Juan Villagrana, the
assistant branch manager,
leaves his desk to unlock the main doors.
He is one of about 20 staff on duty today.
Good morning! Come on in.
NARRATOR: On Friday mornings,
bank employees are on heightened alert.
It's a bank robber's
favorite time to strike,
because the safes are usually
filled with extra payday cash.
Phillips and Matasareanu strap
on customized bulletproof vests.
Phillips has protection
for his legs as well,
but Matasareanu, at 283 pounds,
is perhaps too overweight
to move freely with leg armor.
The body armor weighs less
than the chips on their shoulders.
Both have been in trouble with the law.
Phillips had been caught three
times trying to pull property scams
and had been barred from
working as a real estate agent.
Matasareanu was accused of assaulting
a patient in his mother's care home
and eventually the
home was forced to close.
Both men believe that the
authorities are out to get them.
Shaking down banks must
seem a perfect career choice
for two outcasts obsessed with
money and powerful weapons.
And a hatred for cops.
(WOMAN SPEAKING OVER POLICE SCANNER )
They now head for a confrontation
that both are determined to win,
whatever the cost.
On Laurel Canyon,
the Bank of America is
serving its first customers.
Security guards keep a watchful
eye for any signs of trouble.
With cash reserves at their highest,
the hour after opening on Fridays
can be the most dangerous time.
In a shopping mall across
the street from the bank,
dentist Jorge Montes is
getting ready for his first patients.
He thinks it's going to be a quiet day.
His appointment book is only half full.
I've been in practice for over 25 years
but I have been in my
location in North Hollywood
for the past 17 years.
My wife also practices with me.
Her name is Dr. Teresa Romero.
And I have a staff of around five.
And that day everyone was
there, except for our patients.
(WOMAN SPEAKING OVER POLICE SCANNER)
NARRATOR: Phillips and Matasareanu
make the turn into Archwood Street.
They are now just a few
hundred meters from the bank.
They have planned their raid in detail,
even calculating how much
money should be in the vault.
But there are some big
holes in their scheme.
Both are loners
and don't know anyone
in the criminal underworld
who could launder the stolen cash.
They don't even have a getaway driver.
The robbers' aging car
arrives at the bank's north parking lot.
The engine is left running.
If they were interested in stealing
cash and making a quick escape,
they could do it with little
more than a couple of pistols.
But they carry more than 60 pounds
of guns, armor and
ammunition into the bank.
Two LA police officers cruise
along Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
They're about to play a crucial
role in the North Hollywood shootout.
They catch a glimpse of the bank raid
just as it begins.
-Did you see that? -See what?
We've got a bank robbery. Pull over.
(GRUNTS)
Shit!
(DOOR OPENS)
(GRUNTS)
This is a holdup! Everybody
get down on the ground!
Close your eyes and don't look!
(FIRING GUN)
Keep your heads down!
If you move, I will kill you!
NARRATOR: Matasareanu strikes
79-year-old Mildred Nolte over the head.
If you don't want to die, get
all the way down on the floor!
He then threatens another
bank customer, Javier Orozco.
This 43 requesting assistance.
We've got a possible 211 in progress.
They were in a police
car out on the street,
and they heard these shots
being fired inside a closed bank.
That's how loud they were.
Shots fired! Bank of America.
Laurel Canyon, north of Kittridge.
We have shots fired!
ANGELES: When we first
arrived we saw the black and white
which was the original officers
that saw the men go into the bank.
NARRATOR: Detective Tracey
Angeles and her partner John Krulac
arrive within two minutes of the first call
that a robbery is in progress.
ANGELES: John and I elected
to go into the west parking lot
directly across from the bank.
-Do you see anything? -Not yet.
ANGELES: There was a key
shack at the edge of the sidewalk
and Dr. Montes' office was there.
Well, there's no getaway
or layoff people I can see.
There was no sense of panic in
anybody, so we started thinking
that maybe this could
be a false alarm or...
You know, could be one guy with a handgun.
Something that, you know,
we would have total control over.
NARRATOR: Inside the bank,
Matasareanu threatens a security guard.
(SECURITY GUARD GROANS)
If you move I'll kill you.
When I tell you, I want you to
move all these people to the vault.
You got it?
NARRATOR: Phillips moves to breach
the last line of safety for the bank staff,
a reinforced glass security door.
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
Sergeant Larry Dean Haynes
stops his car just north of the bank.
In the next few minutes
he will be the first Los
Angeles police officer
to discover how lethally
dangerous the robbers really are.
15L40. We have more
shots fired inside the bank.
NARRATOR: Montes'
first patient is now overdue.
You know why we have no patients?
There's four cops hiding outside.
They're aiming their guns to the bank.
MONTES: We all went to the
windows to see what was going on.
Well, to the north side I
had seen three cop cars.
To the south side of the bank, I
had seen another few cop cars.
This is going to end real quick.
I figured they're going to come out, they're
going to be surrounded, it's going to end.
We just expected to see
another regular bank robbery,
because this was about the fifth
bank robbery that we were witnessing.
And our patients usually say,
"Oh, look, those guys
are running out there,"
and so we expected the same thing.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
When we were back behind
the key shack, it was myself,
Detective John Krulac,
Officer Stuart Guy and
Officer James Zboravan.
OFFICER STUART GUY: Because we were
five minutes away, we were one of the first
police units that arrived at the scene,
and we positioned ourselves
directly across the street
from Bank of America.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy is
supervising James Zboravan,
a trainee with just two
months' experience on the force.
I'll just check my partner.
-How are we doing? -Good.
Are you locked and loaded?
I am, and I've got a clear target.
Okay, stay hidden.
OFFICER JAMES ZBORAVAN:
Going back on Academy training,
you were looking for good
cover, good concealment
for when, at some point, they
were going to exit the bank,
stereotypically with you
know, a gun in one hand,
a bag of money in the other,
you know, cops and robbers.
They would see us and
give up or run back in,
take hostages...
You know, you call SWAT
and hopefully 12 hours later,
the incident's over, you
know, safely and peacefully.
Keys to the vault. Now!
Who's got 'em?
-(GROANS) -Open it!
-It takes two keys. -What?
It takes two keys.
Who's got the other one?
The manager.
-Get him. -Mary.
Move, move.
Give it to him, now! Go!
Get.
Open up, now!
(GRUNTS)
Do it!
Fill the bag!
NARRATOR: Phillips fails
to spot a carefully laid trap.
Hidden among the cash
is a small explosive pack.
Come on!
It's designed to spray a blue dye
over the bank notes if they're stolen,
rendering them worthless.
Faster, faster!
Phillips expects to get his hands
on more than $800,000 in cash,
but the bank had recently cut back
on the money it holds in its vaults.
And when they only found
$300,000 to $400,000,
they were quite upset.
Spent a couple of extra minutes in the bank
looking for the money and, um,
actually roughing up the
bank manager a little bit,
um, to try to ascertain where the rest
of the money was, and it wasn't there.
Where's the ATM money? You've got millions!
NARRATOR: The police presence
near the bank grows quickly.
Among the hundreds of police
officers who've responded to
the 211 robbery-in-progress call
is John Caprarelli.
I stopped about 100, maybe
80 yards south of the bank,
and rounds were just going off.
It was louder than I'd ever heard.
NARRATOR: He heads
off to confront the gunmen,
armed with just his standard-issue pistol.
Phillips and Matasareanu
have form as bank robbers,
but a bizarre incident four years earlier
could have cut short their violent careers.
48S northbound Pacific and Broadway.
In pursuit of a red Ford Thunderbird.
Three, Romeo, Whiskey, India, 9-4-2.
Request warrant and registration check.
NARRATOR: In October 1993,
Ian Grimes, a Glendale
robbery homicide detective,
chased down a car that had
spun out wildly in front of him.
He was about to make a startling discovery.
Sir, did you see me
trying to pull you over?
Not at first, no.
Do you have a driver's license?
No, I don't.
Why not?
Must have left it at home.
Sir, I want you to step out of the car
and move around to the side here, please.
What's your name, sir?
John Doe.
Your name's John Doe?
Uh-huh.
This your car, Mr. Doe?
This? No. This is, uh...
It's my mom's.
Right. Sir, I want you to turn around,
put your hands behind your head.
I don't want you to move,
you understand me?
Do you have any concealed weapons?
No.
Stay in the car! Put your hands on
the trunk and keep your feet apart.
NARRATOR: In the trunk of the car, police
recovered a complete bank robbery kit
including semiautomatic guns, ammunition,
gas masks and disguises.
But California prosecutors were not able to
secure a conviction on any serious charges.
After plea bargaining,
Phillips and Matasareanu
were sentenced on lesser offenses,
including declaring a false name
and carrying a concealed weapon.
ZBORAVAN: One of the charges
was conspiracy to commit bank robbery.
It's amazing to me that based
on all the evidence at hand,
um, they weren't able to
garner a conviction for that.
NARRATOR: To the astonishment
of many local police officers,
a judge would later order that most
of the weapons seized from Phillips
and Matasareanu be returned to them.
Security! Get up!
Move!
Go! Get up!
What are you waiting for? Go! Go!
Damn it, go!
What are you doing still
back there? Let's go, move!
You too! Move, move! Move it!
NARRATOR: Eight minutes after
they'd burst into the bank, the two gunmen
are ready to leave.
Staff and customers
are forced into the vault.
Fortunately for them,
Matasareanu does not push
the airtight door completely shut.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Phillips,
meanwhile, steps outside.
What the hell is that?
ZBORAVAN: Eugene Phillips exited the bank
and walked down the
steps and onto the sidewalk.
Dressed in all black and all you
could see was, you know, the eyes
cut out around his face.
NARRATOR: If Phillips is surprised
by the growing police presence,
he doesn't show it, and calmly
walks back inside the bank.
We gotta go!
Phillips reloads.
The Battle of Laurel
Canyon is about to begin.
Larry Phillips Jr. walks out of the bank
and transforms a routine robbery
into a devastating assault
on the Los Angeles police.
Shit, shit.
The first casualty is Dean Haynes.
15L40, I've been hit.
You'd better send a tac alert here.
-(GUN FIRING) -(GLASS SHATTERING)
(BULLETS RICOCHETING)
We've got several civilians hit also.
ZBORAVAN: I lifted up a shotgun
and fired two shotgun blasts.
I find out later, um,
I had hit him with a total of
eight pellets in his... in his back.
Seven absorbed into the body armor,
which at the time we
didn't know they had on,
and one actually went a little bit low
and hit him in the tail bone.
So right after striking him,
he immediately spun,
locked eyes in my direction
and uh, started shooting.
He grabbed me by the front of my shirt
and he said, "Hit the ground."
He threw me on the
ground and got on top of me
and that's when I knew that
we probably were in a lot more trouble than
we realized.
The bullets were going
through the little key shack.
Going through the metal
machinery inside there
and exiting the back.
Two of which at that time struck me,
one in the lower back, one in the hip
that exited my butt cheek.
We realized that, "Hey,
"We're no contest. We... we
cannot compete against AK-47s."
The rounds of bullets
were literally just hitting everywhere.
The cars, the kiosk.
It was just like raindrops,
except these raindrops
were rain drops of death.
As they're shooting, I stayed
watching because I thought
the gunmen are not going
to shoot at the second floor,
they're going to be shooting level.
That's the only reason I stayed there.
Now Dr. Romero, she
was more safety conscious,
so she starts telling all
my assistants and myself
"Get away from the
windows, get back, get back."
There were things that
you thought, "Is it a movie?
"Is it something that's not real?"
You don't expect it until you start
seeing blood coming from the officers.
That's when I realized
that this is something that,
we're in the way of these guns, so when
the bullets would hit our
building, we would duck for cover.
We're going to die.
ANGELES: There was a space that
we had to cover between the key shack
and the first line of parked cars,
like maybe 75 to 83 feet
we had to cover of open space.
But we started to run.
They were in front of me.
(GUN FIRING)
I fell. I had a radio in my left hand,
and I had my gun in my right
hand, and when I fell I fell hard.
I went for my weapon, and
when I went for my weapon
he started firing again.
I had no cover.
I kept feeling that I was
going to get shot in the back.
I can remember thinking that
I didn't want to die in that parking lot,
not like that.
ZBORAVAN: Detective John
Krulac was shot in the ankle.
He went down and immediately hopped back up
and asked me if I was okay to run.
He then put his hand on my
shoulder and we started running.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy and Tracey
Angeles stay behind in the parking lot.
The cars offer little protection.
I can remember
watching them run and
trying to decide, do I run or do I stay?
ZBORAVAN: Tracey recalls
the suspect shooting at
Detective Krulac and myself,
the bullets hitting at our feet and
sparking off the asphalt as we were running.
As I jumped through the glass
doors, most likely his bullets
made it there before
me and helped shatter it.
That's why I didn't receive any,
you know, cuts from the glass.
(GROANING)
We need a doctor!
Help!
ZBORAVAN: Detective Krulac and
myself laid down on the dentist's floor
right at the doorway so we
could look down the stairs
in case the suspects decided to
walk across the street towards us.
Get him up. Take care of him.
Detective Krulac took the shotgun
and pointed it down the stairs,
and if the suspects came
to the bottom of that stairwell,
Detective Krulac would
have had 'em in his sights.
-Where are you hit? -On the lower back.
Everything hurts!
MONTES: I right away
yelled out to my staff,
"Bring me gauze and hydrogen peroxide."
It is a noise that you
will never ever forget.
It's deafening,
um, due to the close
proximity of us and the shooters
you could taste the,
I want to say gun powder, I'm
not sure if that's the appropriate
taste that I was tasting, but
it was a metallic, powdery
awful burned taste.
(YELLS)
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy takes the
full force of an armor-piercing round.
GUY: My leg went up
in the air like a rag doll.
And it pulled me, and when the leg
just came down, still connected
by my skin to my body,
it was as though somebody
pulled me from under my legs
and lifted me up and I landed with my...
with my buttocks against
the ground like I'm sitting,
but my leg completely laying to my right.
(GROANING)
MONTES: When I finally find
this gushing of blood coming out,
the gash was about 7 inches.
It was about 2 inches
wide, about 2 inches deep.
And I just ripped opened the
shirt and you could see this
blood just starting to come out.
ZBORAVAN: It's instilled
in you in the very beginning,
you do not separate from your partner.
So as we're up there and I'm being treated,
I'm thinking, oh God, I left my partner,
he's down in the parking
lot, I'm going to get fired.
Officers down. We're in
the dental surgery in the mall.
Officers Guy and Angeles.
Get back to the surgery.
NARRATOR: Guy tries
desperately to save himself.
This is coming face-to-face with death.
There is just no other way to describe it.
I was very scared...
but, yet...
I was calm.
I was very calm.
NARRATOR: Tracey Angeles
is just a few meters away,
but is pinned down by a stream of gunfire.
ANGELES: His hands were
smoking like they were on fire.
And there was a huge hole.
MONTES: Dr. Romero, my wife,
is the one who brought me gloves,
which I'm glad, because there's
blood and there's glass everywhere.
As I'm treating Zboravan and
I'm putting hydrogen peroxide,
and there's bubbling of the blood,
and the glass, it's inside there.
Now, the gash is so deep
there's a little opening into
the pleural cavity where the lungs breathe,
and so you can hear the kind of sound,
the regurgitation, so I'm
sticking my finger into this space
just so it doesn't get into that area.
GUY: I took off my big gun belt
and I applied a tourniquet on my leg.
I was pulling on that belt.
As I put on the tourniquet
to slow down the bleeding
my gun in my left hand
and praying with my tongue,
so I was like this the whole time.
ANGELES: When I fell in the parking lot,
I felt for sure,
"Okay, I'm going to die, there's no way...
"He's firing, I have no cover
and I'm not going to survive this."
And I can remember it was a pretty lonely
feeling to feel
that way. So,
I remember thinking that
I didn't want Stuart to feel
how I felt.
No human being should
ever feel that lonely.
- Are you okay?
- Can't do anything with my ankle.
Let me see.
MONTES: There's a piece of shrapnel,
probably about 2 inches,
sticking out of his lower right ankle.
- Can you pull it out?
- No, I don't think so.
Might be too dangerous.
I just don't know what I can do.
Better we wait for the hospital, okay?
MONTES: From being a dentist,
I've had so much first aid knowledge.
I didn't take it out, I left it there.
I stopped some of the
bleeding with hydrogen peroxide
and the sterile gauze.
Put his sock over it.
I said, "We'll get to yours later,
yours isn't life-threatening right now."
I want to kill those bastards.
Got to get everyone to the back
of the building. It's not safe here.
NARRATOR: Still bleeding heavily,
the injured men are led to a storeroom
at the back of the dentist's surgery.
The actions of Montes
and the dental surgery staff
have probably saved the officers' lives.
ANGELES: Come on. Keep moving. Come on.
NARRATOR: Stuart Guy and Tracey Angeles
are rescued under fire by LAPD officers
Todd Schmitz and Anthony Carbunoc.
ANGELES: We resorted to the
training they provided us on how to do
an officer rescue, and I got the bad leg.
He was laying in a supine position,
so we could not close the back
door, 'cause the leg was out.
It was hanging out of the door.
We took gunfire again
and one of the tires blew.
So when we got around the corner of
the building and we knew we were safe,
I had to close the back door,
'cause it was swinging and
we were afraid it was gonna
hit the leg and damage
the leg some more. So...
Um, we had no choice
but to tuck the leg into the car.
NARRATOR: The robbers have stolen $303,000,
half a million less than they'd expected.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: As the battle intensifies,
police helicopter pilot Charles Perriguey
is flying directly above the two gunmen.
CHARLES PERRIGUEY: More
police officers became involved in
shooting at the suspects, and
the suspects became more involved
at shooting at... at more and
more police officers and um,
unfortunately some
civilians that were the in area.
I could see bullets actually impacting
the torso of the suspects.
Um,
they were hitting the armor that
they were wearing and with each hit
you'd see like a puff of smoke.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
PERRIGUEY: They had some
self-discipline about themselves.
They were on some narcotics,
but to be in the middle of a gunfight
like that and not to be running
about was very unusual.
NARRATOR: Phillips and Matasareanu
head towards the getaway car,
its engine still running in
the bank's north parking lot.
(MUFFLED SPLATTERING)
A remote sensor sets off
the dye pack inside the bag.
Leave it.
The cash is now unusable.
(GROANS)
Matasareanu is peppered with
gunshot to his unprotected right leg.
Barely able to walk, he
retreats to the getaway car.
He seems to have given up on any plan
to take the battle to the police.
Phillips has other ideas.
Almost immediately, he
takes a gunshot to his left wrist.
But he seems merely
to intensify the attack.
CAPRARELLI: Then I knew
we had to stop these guys,
that's all I was thinking about, is,
you know, you've just got to get in there.
NARRATOR: John Caprarelli is
among a small group of officers
who get to within 10 meters of the gunmen.
CAPRARELLI: The AK-47 rounds
just went through that wall like
it wasn't even there.
Then we kind of regrouped at that point.
NARRATOR: Caprarelli retreats,
and runs to what he thinks will be a
more secure position on Archwood Street.
OFFICER 1: They're moving the car.
OFFICER 2: Are they the suspects?
OFFICER 1: Yeah. On
the other side of that van.
NARRATOR: The gunmen
make their first move to escape.
Matasareanu, driving the
car, appears at one point
to implore Phillips to get in.
But Phillips seems still
to relish the confrontation.
He switches to a high-powered
Heckler & Koch rifle,
a weapon well-suited to attacking
the police and news helicopters that
now swarm above him.
PERRIGUEY: It was something
I've had happen to me before.
I'm a combat veteran from Vietnam,
flying Marine Corps helicopters, so,
it wasn't a new experience,
but it certainly was not one
that I enjoyed suffering
through, but we stayed.
NARRATOR: Phillips' Heckler &
Koch is damaged by a police bullet.
He reverts to his AK-47
and hands Matasareanu an M16 rifle.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: These are the last
few seconds in which the two gunmen
act as a team.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
PERRIGUEY: As they moved out of the parking
lot, Phillips had at least two different
jams in his weapon and he
stopped to clear those jams,
and I don"t think Matasareanu understood
what was happening in that regard,
that his partner was not
staying abreast of him.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Now behind a car
in Archwood Street, John Caprarelli
yet again finds he's in the line of fire.
I knew these guys were getting shot at,
but they just kept
going. I looked to my left,
and it looked to me he
was still firing at the officers.
I was thinking, I'm going
to stop this guy, finally.
Here's my chance.
I ran to that corner, I
stopped at the corner
and I fired six rounds,
and they didn't do anything.
I knew some of them hit him,
but he just slowly turned with the AK-47
in his hands and I turned,
that fire hydrant was in the way,
it was like, "I'm going right over it."
And somewhere in there his gun jammed.
(CLICKING)
You know, it's just... it's a miracle.
It gave me those seconds somewhere in there
to be able to get across the
street and get some cover.
NARRATOR: Matasareanu,
meanwhile, struggles with an almost
undriveable getaway car.
He makes several attempts
to hijack another vehicle.
Remarkably, civilian
cars are still driving by.
We made several mistakes during this
incident and I think probably one of them
that we all acknowledge was
that we didn't cordon off the area
maybe as good as we could have.
But having said that, um...
It would have taken a lot of police
cars just to barricade intersections
and a lot of people, I believe, were just
getting out of their house,
getting in their car and driving
to the market or wherever they were going.
So they probably would have been inside
any cordoned-off area
that we would have created.
I'm not making that as an
excuse. It's just the situation.
NARRATOR: He limps badly,
the leg wound still bleeding.
He has none of Phillips'
determination to fight,
and is focused only on a desperate
search for some way to escape.
He edges his shattered car forward,
its windscreen so badly
damaged that he has to
drive with his head out of the door.
Phillips abandons his AK-47
and prepares to make his last stand.
Once again, John Caprarelli
decides to confront him.
CAPRARELLI: He started
coming out, without the AK,
and I didn't really get a long look.
Eventually he did produce the 9 millimeter.
I fired several rounds,
I went back for cover.
Then I came back out...
after reloading and didn't realize that
he had walked up closer
and now he was just
from one corner to the next.
Caught me off guard. I mean
there was a split second there
when I came out, expecting
him to still be by the truck.
That he's now facing me,
and I saw the gun, the arm,
his eyes all lined up.
And he fired a couple of
rounds, as I dove out of the way
and luckily the rounds went into the car.
We were all firing now
from behind the car at him.
(GROANS)
When he fired those last two rounds at me,
somebody there hit his hand.
That was it for him. He basically said,
"This is it, I'm done."
And that's when he... he picked
it up and put it under his chin.
And he put a round in himself as we were
you know, just peppering him.
My immediate reaction was, "Who shot him?"
I didn't see any police officer
in the bushes next to the sidewalk.
I hadn't seen one before,
I didn't see one then.
And I knew it was a close shot
just by the nature of the shot,
I could tell it was a very close shot.
And it didn't dawn on me
that Phillips had shot himself.
I'm looking for a police officer
that shot him I couldn't find him
and it bugged me. (CHUCKLES)
We heard a weird hissing sound
coming from that direction, and we thought,
with all else that was going
on, that there might have been
some kind of explosive device that...
You know, he was hooked up
to... He was just going to blow.
So we didn't approach. I mean, there were
several minutes, we just
kind of maintained our position
and watched and the sound kept going.
And I later found out it
was one of the tires on the
tractor trailer that had been hit
and was losing air.
NARRATOR: With Matasareanu still
attempting to drive away along Archwood,
SWAT officers Rick Massa,
Steve Gomez and Don Anderson
arrive at a police cordon.
They pull out bulletproof
armor and M16 rifles.
For the first time since
the shooting began,
the police will have firepower
that can match the opposition.
Okay, guys, AK-47s, armor-piercing
bullets, keep your cover.
Gomez, you go wide to the front of the
car, Anderson, you take the back with me.
NARRATOR: The SWAT team
is now racing towards a duel
with Emil Matasareanu.
Larry Phillips Jr. is the first
fatality of the Hollywood shootout.
Among the first to reach
him is John Caprarelli.
We slowly approached,
and when we got up to him
there were three or four of us,
and we turned him over
and we handcuffed him.
We took the ski mask off
and he was obviously dead at that time.
Just hit me,
this is the guy... this is the
guy that I've been listening to
for 45 minutes.
NARRATOR: Further along Archwood,
Emil Matasareanu finally
succeeds in hijacking
another getaway vehicle.
He fires several rounds at
a 1961 Jeep pickup truck.
Its driver, William Marr,
sprints away from danger.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu frantically moves
his weapons and ammunition to the Jeep.
(GUNSHOT)
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: The keys
have been left in the ignition.
But when he tries to start
the engine, nothing happens.
Matasareanu doesn't know that older trucks
like this have a separate starter button.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu
retreats to the back of the car
and loses his opportunity to get
a clear shot at the SWAT officers.
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: The SWAT officers
fire underneath the vehicles,
hitting Matasareanu 29
times, and shattering his left leg.
PERRIGUEY: He finally stopped shooting,
laid his weapon down, and
shortly thereafter the SWAT officers
carefully and with good caution,
moved to a position
where they could see him
full-on and move in and
take him into custody.
A very good job by those three officers.
They did a hell of a job.
It's amazing. The...
Tenacity with the guys
that were getting fired at,
to stay in their positions, to
broadcast what was going on,
and I've just got to mention
what a job they did. You know...
They mention, you know,
there were 350 officers there,
but you know what, it was 35
that held those guys in there.
Don't move.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
(COUGHING)
Why don't you just
put a bullet in my head?
(OFFICER SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
NARRATOR: Matasareanu
will die at the scene,
slowly bleeding to death
from multiple gunshot wounds.
The only fatalities in the
North Hollywood shootout
were Larry Phillips Jr.
And Emil Matasareanu.
But the casualty figures
could have been much worse.
The Los Angeles police
were hopelessly outgunned,
but many still took
the fight to the robbers.
GUY: That day we fought,
and we fought and we fought,
and it was literally like
200 little dark blue ants,
nibbling and biting on this
humongous
tarantula.
You know, and little by little
we got 'em.
NARRATOR: Eleven police officers
and seven civilians were wounded.
But the damage went
beyond physical injuries.
There was a lot of... a lot of stress.
A lot of stress.
Uh, I was waking up every night.
1:00, 1:30 every night,
and going back and reliving, you know,
what was happening and wondering,
you know, "Why did that gun jam?
"What if I hadn't?"
You know?
And, "What if I had just gotten
one of those rounds, you know,
"that went past the body armor?
I could have stopped it sooner."
Just over and over and over
again you think about that.
I was told
first responders,
police officers, firefighters, you
start out with an empty gas tank,
and as you go through your career,
the things that you see and
do start filling that gas tank up.
Yeah, there were three guys that I
used to work with, took their own lives.
And it wasn't just because
of that shootout, but
for those of us that were there,
we know that
that was another little piece of
filling the gas tank.
NARRATOR: After his terrible injury,
Stuart Guy still has a
titanium plate in his leg.
He has now retired from the police.
Detective Tracey Angeles
and officer James Zboravan
still serve in the Los
Angeles Police Department.
As does John Caprarelli,
the cop who faced down the gunmen
three times that February morning
and emerged unscathed.