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Where'd They Get Their Guns?

An Analysis of the Firearms Used in High-Profile Shootings, 1963 to 2001

Date: February 28, 1997

Location: North Hollywood, California

Alleged Shooters: Emil Dechebal Matasareanu and Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr.

People Killed: Two (shooters killed by police)

People Injured: 16

Firearm(s): Multiple fully automatic assault rifles including an AK-47 type


Circumstances

On February 28, 1997, Matasareanu and Phillips tried to rob a Bank of America branch office in North Hollywood, California. While trying to escape, the two men engaged in a shootout with police. Though vastly outnumbered, the two men—armed with automatic weapons and wearing body armor—successfully held off law enforcement personnel for hours before being shot and killed by police.


How Firearm(s) Acquired

The weapons were originally bought at a gun show and then illegally resold to Matasareanu and Phillips.

 
  1. Jaxon Van Derbeken, "The Gunmen; Glendale Police Alerted FBI to Pair," The Daily News of Los Angeles, 2 March 1997, sec. N, p. 1.
  2. Terri Hardy and Dorothy Korber, "Capitol Notebook: Newsworthy Guns Acquired Through Shows," The Daily News of Los Angeles, 2 May 1999, sec. V, p. 3.
  3. Dennis Prager, "Perspective on Ethics: Whom Should We Save First?," Los Angeles Times, 26 April 1998, sec. M, p. 5.


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The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.