1997 North Hollywood Shootout

[Falco]

"The North Hollywood shootout, also known as the Battle of North Hollywood, was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and police officers in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997. Both robbers were killed, twelve police officers and eight civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the robbers and police. Due to the large number of injuries and rounds fired, equipment used by the robbers, and overall length of the shootout, it is regarded as one of the most intense and significant gun battles in U.S. police history. Combined, the two robbers had fired approximately 1,100 rounds in total, while approximately 650 rounds were fired by police. Another estimate is that a total of nearly 2,000 rounds were fired collectively."
- Wikipedia

Links:

Wikipedia article [en.wikipedia.org]
Wendigoon vid about it
Raw aerial vid from heli

[unskilled-]

*Sits down in oldman chair*

Young'ins wondering why the police of today are so heavily armed should watch this and the history leading upto this.

These dudes were basically COD Juggarnaughts cause the police could not penetrate their body armor with pistols and buckshot shotguns while they were firing back with modified assault rifles.

The movie HEAT captures just a glimpse of such a firefight.

[Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...]

the fact that the only two fatalities were the culprits themselves is nothing short of a miracle, considering the circumstances.

[salamander]

i dont really want to click the links sorry, but i am curious. where did the robbers get, so much ammunition? 1100 rounds for 2 people, how did they even get all this rounds? reading of this, i can see where the inspiration for the over the top crazy heists of grand theft auto come from.

[Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...]

Originally posted by salamander:

i dont really want to click the links sorry, but i am curious. where did the robbers get, so much ammunition? 1100 rounds for 2 people, how did they even get all this rounds? reading of this, i can see where the inspiration for the over the top crazy heists of grand theft auto come from.

that's not that unheard of in the US. many people who shoot for recreation will bulk order since you can sometimes get free shipping over a certain amount. especially at that time, there were a lot of cheap military surplus goods on the market, like ammo and imports were still coming from China, too. funding the venture was easy because they were career bank robbers who had used the same method at other banks. it was only by chance a passing patrol officer noticed them and blew their calculated plan, prompting the firefight. that's if my memory serves me. the wendigoon video is a good synopsis of the available information, i believe.

[salamander]

Originally posted by Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...:

Originally posted by salamander:

i dont really want to click the links sorry, but i am curious. where did the robbers get, so much ammunition? 1100 rounds for 2 people, how did they even get all this rounds? reading of this, i can see where the inspiration for the over the top crazy heists of grand theft auto come from.

that's not that unheard of in the US. many people who shoot for recreation will bulk order since you can sometimes get free shipping over a certain amount. especially at that time, there were a lot of cheap military surplus goods on the market, like ammo and imports were still coming from China, too. funding the venture was easy because they were career bank robbers who had used the same method at other banks. it was only by chance a passing patrol officer noticed them and blew their calculated plan, prompting the firefight. that's if my memory serves me. the wendigoon video is a good synopsis of the available information, i believe.

i see. thats definitely something that would be unheard of in my country, to obtain so much ammo. perhaps i am wrong to say this because well, people were injured. but for the sake of the interesting story/history, it is too bad for them (the robbers) that this police officer noticed them before their heist. to be a career criminal your whole life and then, to be undone by chance. what a way to go!

[$2 Hero]

My friend in Arizona orders bulk AK47 ammo from Russia by the 1000's. Comes to his door via UPS lol.

[salamander]

Originally posted by Raziel:

I use to be into firearms. It takes nothing to go through hundreds of rounds at the range. Especially if you are there for a couple hours. So ordering bulk ammo was always cost effective. I always wanted to load my own rounds, but never got into it. Every time I went to the range I'd average around 260 to 320 rounds per visit.

actually insane, to a georgian. not to say you are insane, it is just insane to think about to me and the context of my country. cannot imagine free use of so much ammo for pleasure

[unskilled-]

Originally posted by salamander:

Originally posted by Raziel:

I use to be into firearms. It takes nothing to go through hundreds of rounds at the range. Especially if you are there for a couple hours. So ordering bulk ammo was always cost effective. I always wanted to load my own rounds, but never got into it. Every time I went to the range I'd average around 260 to 320 rounds per visit.

actually insane, to a georgian. not to say you are insane, it is just insane to think about to me and the context of my country. cannot imagine free use of so much ammo for pleasure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPoDNEn3I0

[Coinkydink]

Now thats' what I'm talking about- this is the real America, the wild west, it must be such an exhilarating feeling, living in dangerous country, keeps you on your toes!

Over here in boring old Europe I can go pretty much anywhere and not risk getting shot, it kinda sucks. I too want to live around people who can fire 2000 rounds of ammo at police, hell yeah.

[salamander]

Originally posted by Raziel:

Originally posted by salamander:

actually insane, to a georgian. not to say you are insane, it is just insane to think about to me and the context of my country. cannot imagine free use of so much ammo for pleasure

I get what you're saying. I can see why other countries see it as weird. Shooting targets at the range was an escape for me. It helped me put aside the overwhelming stress I had felt at the time. It was therapeutic. I had eventually wanted to be a professional target shooter, but that didn't pan out. I wasn't able to really travel state to state. People who are into 3 gun competitions go through tons of ammo per session. Keanu Reeves the actor does 3 gun competitions. If you don't know what 3 gun is, it's a competition where you run a course shooting handgun, shotgun, and rifle in different parts of the course.

i see. i have always wanted to shoot guns for fun, but it is not really a thing in my country. no "gun ranges" so to speak. the best you can hope for is perhaps, knowing a rural relative who owns a rifle or shotgun who will let you use it for target practice/fun.

i am glad that you obtained an "escape" for your problems and were able to cut loose and have fun for awhile. i have seen behind the scenes of the john wick films, where keanu reeves is being trained to properly use firearms. very interesting stuff! i imagine that because of these films, he could perhaps compete in such competitions now.

[Falco]

Originally posted by unskilled-:

Originally posted by salamander:

actually insane, to a georgian. not to say you are insane, it is just insane to think about to me and the context of my country. cannot imagine free use of so much ammo for pleasure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPoDNEn3I0

lol

Originally posted by Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...:

Originally posted by salamander:

i dont really want to click the links sorry, but i am curious. where did the robbers get, so much ammunition? 1100 rounds for 2 people, how did they even get all this rounds? reading of this, i can see where the inspiration for the over the top crazy heists of grand theft auto come from.

that's not that unheard of in the US. many people who shoot for recreation will bulk order since you can sometimes get free shipping over a certain amount. especially at that time, there were a lot of cheap military surplus goods on the market, like ammo and imports were still coming from China, too. funding the venture was easy because they were career bank robbers who had used the same method at other banks. it was only by chance a passing patrol officer noticed them and blew their calculated plan, prompting the firefight. that's if my memory serves me. the wendigoon video is a good synopsis of the available information, i believe.

if i remember right, on top of that, the banks schedules and procedures had changed from what they were used to, messing up much of their calculations and preparations

Originally posted by unskilled-:

*Sits down in oldman chair*

Young'ins wondering why the police of today are so heavily armed should watch this and the history leading upto this.

These dudes were basically COD Juggarnaughts cause the police could not penetrate their body armor with pistols and buckshot shotguns while they were firing back with modified assault rifles.

The movie HEAT captures just a glimpse of such a firefight.

interestingly enough, some of the critique when that film first came out was that a shootout like that was unrealistic, and that no robber would ever engage in something like that, i bet some of those critics got a rude awakening 2 years later lol

[Alaskan Catfish Hike]

Originally posted by salamander:

i dont really want to click the links sorry, but i am curious. where did the robbers get, so much ammunition? 1100 rounds for 2 people, how did they even get all this rounds? reading of this, i can see where the inspiration for the over the top crazy heists of grand theft auto come from.

Also known as when I resupply after hitting the range. That is nothing. It is called the store.

[vkobe]

Originally posted by Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...:

the fact that the only two fatalities were the culprits themselves is nothing short of a miracle, considering the circumstances.

because it was 90s, so dude didnt use yet ar15

[L1qu1dator]

Originally posted by vkobe:

Originally posted by Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...:

the fact that the only two fatalities were the culprits themselves is nothing short of a miracle, considering the circumstances.

because it was 90s, so dude didnt use yet ar15

They used AKs that have no problem going through a car, except the part where the engine block is. They even had HK G3 that fires 7.62x51 rounds.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

When you to the range you can typically shoot 50 or 100 pistol bullets, 40 hunting bullets. 300 .22 bullets,

1200 bullets isnt unusual. The barrel gets too hot though after 40 bullets thats why yoi have multiple guns to play with at range