On this episode of Our American Stories, often, art imitates life; this time, life imitated art. Two of America's most famous actors (Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in the movie Heat) inspired the most famous bank robbery in American history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Here to tell
another great American story is our regular contributor, Ashley Lebinski.
Ashley is the former co host of Discovery Channel's Master
of Arms, the former curator in charge of the Cody
Firearms Museum, and is the co founder of the University
of Wyoming College of Laws Firearms Research Center. Here's Ashley.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
One of the most infamous bank robberies in American history
occurred on February twenty eighth of nineteen ninety seven, and
at ten oh one am, two armed bank robbers and
officers of the Los Angeles Police Department engaged in a
shootout where quite literally willpower won out over firepower. The
(00:58):
North Hollywood shootout is a really interesting case study in
a transition of how law enforcement supplies their officers and
how they engage in crime. So on February twenty eighth
at nine to seventeen am, armed with automatic and semi
(01:19):
automatic weapons, and so automatic just for anyone who's not aware,
means that every time you press the trigger, the firearm
continuously fires until you either release the trigger, the firearm malfunctions,
or you run out of ammunition. And a semi automatic
firearm means that every time you press the trigger, it
fires one round. So these bank robbers had automatic and
(01:42):
semi automatic firearms. They had three thousand rounds of ammunition
and full body armor with them and their names were
Larry Phillips Junior and a Romanian immigrant, Emil Matti Serrano,
and they entered the Bank of America in.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
North Hollywood, California.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well prior to entering this is kind of a random aside,
but the parent had taken pena barbadal, which was a
prescription that Mata Srano had for seizures, and they took
that to calm their nerves when they went into the bank.
And before they went in, they synchronized their watch to
six minutes. But the robbery actually doesn't go as planned
and it takes them a total of ten minutes before exiting.
(02:22):
And this is one of those kind of experiences where
four minutes really changed everything.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Everybody know.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
The men entered the.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Bank, and they, like you hear in all bank robberies,
Hollywood or not, they demanded everyone get on the floor
and they actually fired their guns into the ceiling to
intimidate them and make the people that were in the
bank realized that they weren't messing around, and they one
of the things they started doing is they were shooting
at the bulletproof vaults, so obviously they were trying to
get their money quickly, and once they were successfully in it,
(02:54):
they started having the tellers fill their bags with money
in the safe. But a big flub in the plan
was that there were significantly less cash than they had anticipated.
When Mata Serrano and Phillips were making the plan for
this bank robbery, they were under the impression that there
would be over eight hundred thousand dollars, but what they
(03:14):
were surprised to see was that there were only three
hundred and three thousand dollars available at the time.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
We just done a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But if you're expecting eight hundred thousand, I guess you're
gonna be a little disappointed, and they definitely were, because
in anger, Mata Serrano actually emptied a fifty round drum
magazine into the vault and destroyed the rest of the money.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Maybe they shouldn't have.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Done drugs before they went into that probably didn't help.
So one thing they tried to do, and this is
what delayed though, was they actually attempted to access the atm,
and that's what delays them four minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
What they're also not aware.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Of was that two officers actually saw them enter the
bank with their ski masks, body armor, and firearms, and
they had already called for backup. Phillips and Mata Serrano
were actually known to the police before this bank robbery.
Phillips was actually a career criminal and Mata Serrano was
a Romanian immigrant and they met at all places the
gym because Mata Serrano was going through a little bit
(04:12):
of a rough time. He was overweight and estranged from
his wife and child, So I mean, of course, why
not go spend your time at the gym, and they met,
they started working together, and they became known as the
High Incident Bandits. In nineteen ninety three, they were actually
pulled over for speeding and in their vehicle officers found
two semi automatic rifles, two pistols, twelve hundred rounds of ammunition,
(04:34):
smoke bombs, explosives, and body arbor. And as a result
of this fine Phillips and Matta Serrano spent ninety nine
and seventy one days in.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Jail, respectively.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So they weren't new to this, to this crime life,
and prior to the North Hollywood shootout, they had already
stolen more than one point five million dollars and of course,
reminiscent of a Hollywood film, the North Hollywood shootout was
supposed to be their last score. Well, I can recount
the story from a historical perspective.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The first officer.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
On the scene was James Ziborvin, So let's take a
listen to the man himself.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
February twenty eighth, nineteen ninety seven, two months and eight
days out of the police academy. I am working with
my field training officer, Stuart Guy, and just before ten am,
we heard an officer come on the radio that they
were traveling southbound on Laurel Canyon Avenue and off to
(05:30):
his left he saw what he thought was two masked
gunmen entering the Bank of America. They were already pushing
into the door, and as they're driving, they kind of
looked at each other and said, did we just see
what we saw? So they pull into the south parking
lot of the bank, and as they do so, they
can hear the gunfire inside the bank. So they changed
(05:52):
their radio broadcast to we have a two to eleven
or a robbery in progress. Officer needs help at the
Bank of America on Laurel Canyon south of Kittridge. So
as we were responding Code three, Stewart says, grab the
shotgun and have it ready. So I reach under, grabbed
the shotgun and I asked him where do you want
(06:13):
me to put this While we're driving, said roll down
your window and point the barrel up towards the sky. Stuart's,
you know, running through the red lights and turning one
of the corners. There was a group of people and
a bus bench. Ten to fifteen people are standing there.
So I often think back in a wow, I wonder
what they thought at the time as they see this
(06:34):
police car screaming down the street and a shotgun pointed
up into the sky. So we get to the bank
and we're positioned across the street in this grocery store
parking lot. At the same time, there was people coming
out of the grocery store, so we were kind of
shooting people away and saying get in your car and go,
it's dangerous. Leave. And it was at about that point
(06:57):
when suspect number one, Eugene Phillips, exited the southern glass
doors to the bank. He looks up and he sees
at the corner of Archwood and Lorel Canyon Sergeant Dean
Haynes and three civilians that are in that intersection looking
at the bank. Phillips, armed with an AK forty seven
(07:19):
with an attached one hundred round drum magazine, shoulders the
weapon and begins shooting at Sergeant Haynes and the three
civilians that are in the intersection. And as he does so,
I raise up twelve gage shotgun and fire two shotgun
blasts at Phillips. I hit him with eight of the
(07:40):
shotgun pellets, so those eight pellets is absorbed into his
body armor. One actually flew a little bit low and
hit him in the tailbone. He immediately spins around, looking
at our direction, locks eyes with me. He lifts up
the AK forty seven and begins shooting in our direction.
I must have remember in the back of my head
(08:01):
that detect evangelism doctor Kruleek did not have body armour on.
I crawled up on top of them in an attempt
to shield them since I did have body armour on
from any incoming rifle fire. It was at that time
I was hit total of four times Phillips runs out
(08:23):
of ammunition. The drum is now empty, which gave us
time to get up from the asphalt, and all four
of us ran. Seconds later, Phillips reloaded and started shooting
at us again. So we're being peppered with asphalt, shrapnel
from the vehicles, glass from the vehicles. So you could
(08:43):
smell the air coming out of the inflated tires if
you anybody remembers pump up a tire and you can
smell that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And you're listening to Ashley Lebinski and James Aboravan tell
the story of the nineteen ninety one North Hollywood shootout,
one of the most INFAMA bank robberies in American history.
And imagine just having been there and noticed two guys
walking into this bank with ski masks. But for that,
(09:10):
this would have never happened. Those two officers called the
two eleven in progress, and well the rest is history.
When we come back more of this remarkable story, what
happened next in the Bank of America in North Hollywood
on Kittridge Road. Here on our American stories and we
(09:39):
continue with our American stories and with Ashley Lebinski and
LAPD's James Zboravan telling the story of the infamous North
Hollywood shootout. Let's return to the story.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
The booming and the echoing of the rounds going off,
you know, hitting the buildings in the area that if
you didn't know where the gun I was coming from,
it'd be difficult to find it because it just sounded
like it was coming from everywhere. And then being hit
with radiator fluid, which you know to this day you
smell radiat I smell radiator fluid, and it takes me back.
(10:15):
It's the third vehicle that we that Detective Krulac and
I were hiding behind. Detective Krulak is struck in the
ankle and he yells out to me, Hey, these cars
aren't going to provide us enough cover. Can I run?
And I said, sure, where do you want to go?
He puts his hand on my shoulder and nudges me
(10:37):
towards the businesses. So at a full sprint with the
shotgun still in my hands, run through the parking lot
with Detective Kruelac behind me, and almost at that full
sprint and the shotgun out in front of me, I
jump through these glass doors. Well, turns out the glass
doors I jump into is a dentist office. So run
(11:02):
up the stairs and I immediately start banging on the
door that's there, and I says, I say, is the doctor?
There is the doctor there. The door opens and on
the other side of the door is doctor Jorge Montes.
He starts picking out the shrapnel and the glass and
putting compresses on. You know, there were Aaron rounds coming
through the Dennis windows. And what I didn't know was
(11:23):
as Detective Cruelak and I ran through that parking lot
into the dentist office, Suspect Phillips was actually shooting at us.
My partner and Detective Angelus actually saw the rounds skipping
at our feet like you would on a cartoon and
the sparks flying off the asphalt as we were running.
(11:44):
Fortunately none of those rounds hit us, but at least
one of the rounds must have struck the doors that
I jumped through and shattered them right before I went through,
because I wasn't cut from any of the glass going
through that door. So it was actually suspect Phillips rounds
breaking that or at least spidering the glass before I
jumped through. And it was shortly after that where Stuart
(12:10):
was struck three times. Detective Angelus, who was next to him,
could have ran upstairs and eventually got to safety with us,
but she elected to stay down there in that field
of fire to keep Stuart company to help prevent him
from going into shock. Detective Angelis was hit by shrapnel
(12:32):
and both of them ended up you know, at hospitals.
After that, that same unit eventually comes back and is
able to rescue Detective Krulak and myself after I was
wounded and while laying on the ground getting up running
from car to car, I had fell back on training
(12:54):
from the Academy and in its mindset and one of
the last Academy guest speakers, if you will, was a
Detective Richard Householder. Richard Householder in November of nineteen ninety six,
discussed the shooting that he was involved with. Working with
a partner, they stopped a vehicle that was suspicious. As
(13:19):
soon as the officers exited their vehicle, the driver the
suspect exited and produced a large caliber handgun and started
shooting at the officers. Detective Householder was hit in the arm,
one in the chest in the ballistic vest, and a
gray's wound to his head. Detective Householder fell to the ground.
(13:40):
He didn't get pushed down by the velocity of the bullets.
He just fell to the ground, and that made him
angry and inside he said, why am I on the ground?
You got to get up and you have to fight.
He originally goes to the rear of his vehicle to redeploys,
and they're able to shoot and kill the suspect. And
it was actually that portion of the academy that I
(14:03):
remembered and kept me going after I was shot. So
over the years talking to other officers, they're like, we
can't believe nobody has written or did a movie on
the North Hollywood shootout. There was a TV version and
unfortunately it didn't reflect what occurred that day. But I replied,
(14:25):
the movie was made before the incident. They're like, what
are you talking about. Well remember the movie Heat. Everybody's like, oh, yeah,
I remember. He that was a great movie. Well, Heat
came out a few years prior and basically mimicked what
occurred that day. And here's why. After all was said
and done, you had us The FBI, Sheriff's LA County
(14:48):
Sheriff's Department conducted several search warrants over the next few
weeks at residences tied to the two suspects. In one
of the houses, I believe it was in Hussien the Heights, California.
Not much anything in there, but there was a TV
and a VCR. Well, one of the agents powered on
(15:11):
the VCR and out popped the movie Heat. So the
training that both of those suspects received wasn't formal. They
weren't in the military, but they watched the movie Heat
to learn the tactics. So that's how good Heat was.
And for those of you you've never seen it, it's
a good watch. And if you look at the tactics
(15:33):
employed by the suspects and the police in that movie
were pretty close to real life. And that's what they did.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Incredible. I I am watching this and I still I.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Can't believe it's happened. The LAPD ultimately engaged in this
for about seventeen minutes of heavy gunfire, and the robbers
basically win the first round while the officers are awaiting
air units and SWAT teams to show up. And it
gets so bad that the LAPD has to go to
a local gun shop known as B and B Sales
(16:08):
in the middle of the shootout in order to acquire
better weapons to fight Phillips and Manta Serrano.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
At nine to fifty two am, the men split up.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Phillips takes cover behind a truck and continues to fire
his rifle at the police until it malfunctions, after which
he switches to his handgun, and the officers managed to
shoot Phillips in the hand, basically kind of incapacitating him.
And once he realizes that he's not going to make
this out of it, Phillips actually turns the gun on
(16:39):
himself and kills himself. Mat Serrano, though, tries to hijack
a jeep, and this is an interesting kind of moment
because you know, you've got this kind of really scary
bank robber and he's coming at a civilian's jeep and
he hijacks the jeep, but the guy who had the
car managed to pull the keys out of the car
(17:01):
before Manta Serrano got in, so he couldn't go anywhere,
So he took cover behind the car and SWAT members
started shooting below the car.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
They thought that they could access.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
A weak point by shooting at his legs, and in total,
Manta Serrano was shot twenty nine times in the leg
and at this point officers didn't know whether or not
there were any other accomplices. I mean, obviously there were
two men that came out of the bank, but there
were rumors that there could have been a third shooter.
And so since they didn't know if the situation was secure,
(17:34):
they couldn't let the ambulance come into the space. They
had to continue to secure the scene. So what ends
up happening is Monta Serrano has to basically lay there
for seventy minutes as it took the ambulance time to
get into the scene, and he succumbs to his injuries.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
He bleeds to death, but he.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Doesn't stop screaming provinities at the officers for a lot
of that in this shootouts interesting because it does almost
sound reminiscent of a movie, and it's ironic that it
takes place in North Hollywood, but it is a real
turning point in LAPD history, in really police history across
(18:14):
the country. And when you think about it, this is
a one hour period with two thousand rounds being fired. Fortunately,
other than the robbers, there were no fatalities, but there
were many injured and about a year after the event,
nineteen officers who were involved in the North Hollywood shootout
received medals of Valor.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
For their involvement and the LAPD And.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Actually, the Pentagon realizes that they need more firepower in
these situations, and so they ultimately issue the LAPD six
hundred M sixteens. And if you're not familiar with an
M sixteen, that is a military firearm.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's a selective fire.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Gun, meaning it can switch between semi automatic and automatics
an intermediate cartridge. So now instead of a slide action shotgun,
they're and revolvers. They're now equipped with similar firepower to
what the bank robbers had in order to level the
playing field.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And a terrific job on the editing, production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. A special thanks to Ashley
Lebinski and James Aboravan and my goodness, what a story
they told. And isn't it interesting that though the cops
got their training at the police academy, the robbers got
their training from the movie Heat and Well, you can't
(19:36):
make that one up. And it changed police history because
in the end, the cops needed to be armed with
similar types of weapons, and it turned out that would
be M sixteen's to combat the ever escalating nature of
firepower on the criminal side. And by the way, if
you haven't seen the movie Heat, see it. It's just
(19:56):
terrific Pacino Engineero in a movie, in a scene to together,
the only time it ever happened in both actors' lives.
The story behind the story of the infamous North Hollywood
Bank of America shootout and bank robber. Here on our
American Stories.
And we continue with our American stories. Here to tell
another great American story is our regular contributor, Ashley Lebinski.
Ashley is the former co host of Discovery Channel's Master
of Arms, the former curator in charge of the Cody
Firearms Museum, and is the co founder of the University
of Wyoming College of Laws Firearms Research Center. Here's Ashley.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
One of the most infamous bank robberies in American history
occurred on February twenty eighth of nineteen ninety seven, and
at ten oh one am, two armed bank robbers and
officers of the Los Angeles Police Department engaged in a
shootout where quite literally willpower won out over firepower. The
(00:58):
North Hollywood shootout is a really interesting case study in
a transition of how law enforcement supplies their officers and
how they engage in crime. So on February twenty eighth
at nine to seventeen am, armed with automatic and semi
(01:19):
automatic weapons, and so automatic just for anyone who's not aware,
means that every time you press the trigger, the firearm
continuously fires until you either release the trigger, the firearm malfunctions,
or you run out of ammunition. And a semi automatic
firearm means that every time you press the trigger, it
fires one round. So these bank robbers had automatic and
(01:42):
semi automatic firearms. They had three thousand rounds of ammunition
and full body armor with them and their names were
Larry Phillips Junior and a Romanian immigrant, Emil Matti Serrano,
and they entered the Bank of America in.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
North Hollywood, California.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well prior to entering this is kind of a random aside,
but the parent had taken pena barbadal, which was a
prescription that Mata Srano had for seizures, and they took
that to calm their nerves when they went into the bank.
And before they went in, they synchronized their watch to
six minutes. But the robbery actually doesn't go as planned
and it takes them a total of ten minutes before exiting.
(02:22):
And this is one of those kind of experiences where
four minutes really changed everything.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Everybody know.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
The men entered the.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Bank, and they, like you hear in all bank robberies,
Hollywood or not, they demanded everyone get on the floor
and they actually fired their guns into the ceiling to
intimidate them and make the people that were in the
bank realized that they weren't messing around, and they one
of the things they started doing is they were shooting
at the bulletproof vaults, so obviously they were trying to
get their money quickly, and once they were successfully in it,
(02:54):
they started having the tellers fill their bags with money
in the safe. But a big flub in the plan
was that there were significantly less cash than they had anticipated.
When Mata Serrano and Phillips were making the plan for
this bank robbery, they were under the impression that there
would be over eight hundred thousand dollars, but what they
(03:14):
were surprised to see was that there were only three
hundred and three thousand dollars available at the time.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
We just done a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But if you're expecting eight hundred thousand, I guess you're
gonna be a little disappointed, and they definitely were, because
in anger, Mata Serrano actually emptied a fifty round drum
magazine into the vault and destroyed the rest of the money.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Maybe they shouldn't have.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Done drugs before they went into that probably didn't help.
So one thing they tried to do, and this is
what delayed though, was they actually attempted to access the atm,
and that's what delays them four minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
What they're also not aware.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Of was that two officers actually saw them enter the
bank with their ski masks, body armor, and firearms, and
they had already called for backup. Phillips and Mata Serrano
were actually known to the police before this bank robbery.
Phillips was actually a career criminal and Mata Serrano was
a Romanian immigrant and they met at all places the
gym because Mata Serrano was going through a little bit
(04:12):
of a rough time. He was overweight and estranged from
his wife and child, So I mean, of course, why
not go spend your time at the gym, and they met,
they started working together, and they became known as the
High Incident Bandits. In nineteen ninety three, they were actually
pulled over for speeding and in their vehicle officers found
two semi automatic rifles, two pistols, twelve hundred rounds of ammunition,
(04:34):
smoke bombs, explosives, and body arbor. And as a result
of this fine Phillips and Matta Serrano spent ninety nine
and seventy one days in.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Jail, respectively.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So they weren't new to this, to this crime life,
and prior to the North Hollywood shootout, they had already
stolen more than one point five million dollars and of course,
reminiscent of a Hollywood film, the North Hollywood shootout was
supposed to be their last score. Well, I can recount
the story from a historical perspective.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The first officer.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
On the scene was James Ziborvin, So let's take a
listen to the man himself.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
February twenty eighth, nineteen ninety seven, two months and eight
days out of the police academy. I am working with
my field training officer, Stuart Guy, and just before ten am,
we heard an officer come on the radio that they
were traveling southbound on Laurel Canyon Avenue and off to
(05:30):
his left he saw what he thought was two masked
gunmen entering the Bank of America. They were already pushing
into the door, and as they're driving, they kind of
looked at each other and said, did we just see
what we saw? So they pull into the south parking
lot of the bank, and as they do so, they
can hear the gunfire inside the bank. So they changed
(05:52):
their radio broadcast to we have a two to eleven
or a robbery in progress. Officer needs help at the
Bank of America on Laurel Canyon south of Kittridge. So
as we were responding Code three, Stewart says, grab the
shotgun and have it ready. So I reach under, grabbed
the shotgun and I asked him where do you want
(06:13):
me to put this While we're driving, said roll down
your window and point the barrel up towards the sky. Stuart's,
you know, running through the red lights and turning one
of the corners. There was a group of people and
a bus bench. Ten to fifteen people are standing there.
So I often think back in a wow, I wonder
what they thought at the time as they see this
(06:34):
police car screaming down the street and a shotgun pointed
up into the sky. So we get to the bank
and we're positioned across the street in this grocery store
parking lot. At the same time, there was people coming
out of the grocery store, so we were kind of
shooting people away and saying get in your car and go,
it's dangerous. Leave. And it was at about that point
(06:57):
when suspect number one, Eugene Phillips, exited the southern glass
doors to the bank. He looks up and he sees
at the corner of Archwood and Lorel Canyon Sergeant Dean
Haynes and three civilians that are in that intersection looking
at the bank. Phillips, armed with an AK forty seven
(07:19):
with an attached one hundred round drum magazine, shoulders the
weapon and begins shooting at Sergeant Haynes and the three
civilians that are in the intersection. And as he does so,
I raise up twelve gage shotgun and fire two shotgun
blasts at Phillips. I hit him with eight of the
(07:40):
shotgun pellets, so those eight pellets is absorbed into his
body armor. One actually flew a little bit low and
hit him in the tailbone. He immediately spins around, looking
at our direction, locks eyes with me. He lifts up
the AK forty seven and begins shooting in our direction.
I must have remember in the back of my head
(08:01):
that detect evangelism doctor Kruleek did not have body armour on.
I crawled up on top of them in an attempt
to shield them since I did have body armour on
from any incoming rifle fire. It was at that time
I was hit total of four times Phillips runs out
(08:23):
of ammunition. The drum is now empty, which gave us
time to get up from the asphalt, and all four
of us ran. Seconds later, Phillips reloaded and started shooting
at us again. So we're being peppered with asphalt, shrapnel
from the vehicles, glass from the vehicles. So you could
(08:43):
smell the air coming out of the inflated tires if
you anybody remembers pump up a tire and you can
smell that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And you're listening to Ashley Lebinski and James Aboravan tell
the story of the nineteen ninety one North Hollywood shootout,
one of the most INFAMA bank robberies in American history.
And imagine just having been there and noticed two guys
walking into this bank with ski masks. But for that,
(09:10):
this would have never happened. Those two officers called the
two eleven in progress, and well the rest is history.
When we come back more of this remarkable story, what
happened next in the Bank of America in North Hollywood
on Kittridge Road. Here on our American stories and we
(09:39):
continue with our American stories and with Ashley Lebinski and
LAPD's James Zboravan telling the story of the infamous North
Hollywood shootout. Let's return to the story.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
The booming and the echoing of the rounds going off,
you know, hitting the buildings in the area that if
you didn't know where the gun I was coming from,
it'd be difficult to find it because it just sounded
like it was coming from everywhere. And then being hit
with radiator fluid, which you know to this day you
smell radiat I smell radiator fluid, and it takes me back.
(10:15):
It's the third vehicle that we that Detective Krulac and
I were hiding behind. Detective Krulak is struck in the
ankle and he yells out to me, Hey, these cars
aren't going to provide us enough cover. Can I run?
And I said, sure, where do you want to go?
He puts his hand on my shoulder and nudges me
(10:37):
towards the businesses. So at a full sprint with the
shotgun still in my hands, run through the parking lot
with Detective Kruelac behind me, and almost at that full
sprint and the shotgun out in front of me, I
jump through these glass doors. Well, turns out the glass
doors I jump into is a dentist office. So run
(11:02):
up the stairs and I immediately start banging on the
door that's there, and I says, I say, is the doctor?
There is the doctor there. The door opens and on
the other side of the door is doctor Jorge Montes.
He starts picking out the shrapnel and the glass and
putting compresses on. You know, there were Aaron rounds coming
through the Dennis windows. And what I didn't know was
(11:23):
as Detective Cruelak and I ran through that parking lot
into the dentist office, Suspect Phillips was actually shooting at us.
My partner and Detective Angelus actually saw the rounds skipping
at our feet like you would on a cartoon and
the sparks flying off the asphalt as we were running.
(11:44):
Fortunately none of those rounds hit us, but at least
one of the rounds must have struck the doors that
I jumped through and shattered them right before I went through,
because I wasn't cut from any of the glass going
through that door. So it was actually suspect Phillips rounds
breaking that or at least spidering the glass before I
jumped through. And it was shortly after that where Stuart
(12:10):
was struck three times. Detective Angelus, who was next to him,
could have ran upstairs and eventually got to safety with us,
but she elected to stay down there in that field
of fire to keep Stuart company to help prevent him
from going into shock. Detective Angelis was hit by shrapnel
(12:32):
and both of them ended up you know, at hospitals.
After that, that same unit eventually comes back and is
able to rescue Detective Krulak and myself after I was
wounded and while laying on the ground getting up running
from car to car, I had fell back on training
(12:54):
from the Academy and in its mindset and one of
the last Academy guest speakers, if you will, was a
Detective Richard Householder. Richard Householder in November of nineteen ninety six,
discussed the shooting that he was involved with. Working with
a partner, they stopped a vehicle that was suspicious. As
(13:19):
soon as the officers exited their vehicle, the driver the
suspect exited and produced a large caliber handgun and started
shooting at the officers. Detective Householder was hit in the arm,
one in the chest in the ballistic vest, and a
gray's wound to his head. Detective Householder fell to the ground.
(13:40):
He didn't get pushed down by the velocity of the bullets.
He just fell to the ground, and that made him
angry and inside he said, why am I on the ground?
You got to get up and you have to fight.
He originally goes to the rear of his vehicle to redeploys,
and they're able to shoot and kill the suspect. And
it was actually that portion of the academy that I
(14:03):
remembered and kept me going after I was shot. So
over the years talking to other officers, they're like, we
can't believe nobody has written or did a movie on
the North Hollywood shootout. There was a TV version and
unfortunately it didn't reflect what occurred that day. But I replied,
(14:25):
the movie was made before the incident. They're like, what
are you talking about. Well remember the movie Heat. Everybody's like, oh, yeah,
I remember. He that was a great movie. Well, Heat
came out a few years prior and basically mimicked what
occurred that day. And here's why. After all was said
and done, you had us The FBI, Sheriff's LA County
(14:48):
Sheriff's Department conducted several search warrants over the next few
weeks at residences tied to the two suspects. In one
of the houses, I believe it was in Hussien the Heights, California.
Not much anything in there, but there was a TV
and a VCR. Well, one of the agents powered on
(15:11):
the VCR and out popped the movie Heat. So the
training that both of those suspects received wasn't formal. They
weren't in the military, but they watched the movie Heat
to learn the tactics. So that's how good Heat was.
And for those of you you've never seen it, it's
a good watch. And if you look at the tactics
(15:33):
employed by the suspects and the police in that movie
were pretty close to real life. And that's what they did.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Incredible. I I am watching this and I still I.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Can't believe it's happened. The LAPD ultimately engaged in this
for about seventeen minutes of heavy gunfire, and the robbers
basically win the first round while the officers are awaiting
air units and SWAT teams to show up. And it
gets so bad that the LAPD has to go to
a local gun shop known as B and B Sales
(16:08):
in the middle of the shootout in order to acquire
better weapons to fight Phillips and Manta Serrano.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
At nine to fifty two am, the men split up.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Phillips takes cover behind a truck and continues to fire
his rifle at the police until it malfunctions, after which
he switches to his handgun, and the officers managed to
shoot Phillips in the hand, basically kind of incapacitating him.
And once he realizes that he's not going to make
this out of it, Phillips actually turns the gun on
(16:39):
himself and kills himself. Mat Serrano, though, tries to hijack
a jeep, and this is an interesting kind of moment
because you know, you've got this kind of really scary
bank robber and he's coming at a civilian's jeep and
he hijacks the jeep, but the guy who had the
car managed to pull the keys out of the car
(17:01):
before Manta Serrano got in, so he couldn't go anywhere,
So he took cover behind the car and SWAT members
started shooting below the car.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
They thought that they could access.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
A weak point by shooting at his legs, and in total,
Manta Serrano was shot twenty nine times in the leg
and at this point officers didn't know whether or not
there were any other accomplices. I mean, obviously there were
two men that came out of the bank, but there
were rumors that there could have been a third shooter.
And so since they didn't know if the situation was secure,
(17:34):
they couldn't let the ambulance come into the space. They
had to continue to secure the scene. So what ends
up happening is Monta Serrano has to basically lay there
for seventy minutes as it took the ambulance time to
get into the scene, and he succumbs to his injuries.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
He bleeds to death, but he.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Doesn't stop screaming provinities at the officers for a lot
of that in this shootouts interesting because it does almost
sound reminiscent of a movie, and it's ironic that it
takes place in North Hollywood, but it is a real
turning point in LAPD history, in really police history across
(18:14):
the country. And when you think about it, this is
a one hour period with two thousand rounds being fired. Fortunately,
other than the robbers, there were no fatalities, but there
were many injured and about a year after the event,
nineteen officers who were involved in the North Hollywood shootout
received medals of Valor.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
For their involvement and the LAPD And.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Actually, the Pentagon realizes that they need more firepower in
these situations, and so they ultimately issue the LAPD six
hundred M sixteens. And if you're not familiar with an
M sixteen, that is a military firearm.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's a selective fire.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Gun, meaning it can switch between semi automatic and automatics
an intermediate cartridge. So now instead of a slide action shotgun,
they're and revolvers. They're now equipped with similar firepower to
what the bank robbers had in order to level the
playing field.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And a terrific job on the editing, production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. A special thanks to Ashley
Lebinski and James Aboravan and my goodness, what a story
they told. And isn't it interesting that though the cops
got their training at the police academy, the robbers got
their training from the movie Heat and Well, you can't
(19:36):
make that one up. And it changed police history because
in the end, the cops needed to be armed with
similar types of weapons, and it turned out that would
be M sixteen's to combat the ever escalating nature of
firepower on the criminal side. And by the way, if
you haven't seen the movie Heat, see it. It's just
(19:56):
terrific Pacino Engineero in a movie, in a scene to together,
the only time it ever happened in both actors' lives.
The story behind the story of the infamous North Hollywood
Bank of America shootout and bank robber. Here on our
American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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