On February 28, 1997, two heavilly armed and armoured robbers engaged SWAT and police officers the Los Angeles Police Department in North Hollywood.Ten officers and seven civilians sustained injuries before both robbers were killed.Larry Phillips Jr.,carried armour of weight equivalent to roughly that of eight bowling balls.The buck shot from the shotgun fired by police officers did not penetrate his armour and hence,did not stop him from spraying rounds from his illegally modified fully automatic rifles: a Romanian AIMS AK-47 copy.Several minutes into the shootout,the pair split up and used their getaway car as shield to protect them from oncoming fire from the officers.Phillips was shot in his right thumb and a few seconds later, his AK, jammed from a stovepipe malfunction.He set it down, pulled out a Beretta pistol, and continued firing at the police with his unwounded right hand. He was then again shot in the right hand and dropped the pistol and then picked it up again, and shortly thereafter, Phillips was seen from KCBS' helicopter's live feed placing the muzzle of his pistol under his chin and shooting himself while a round from a police officer's handgun simultaneously severed his spine.Matasareanu's vehicle was rendered nearly inoperable after its tires were blown out. At 9:56 he commandeered a pickup truck on Archwood, three blocks east of where Phillips was shot, and transferred all of his weapons and ammunition from the getaway car to the truck. However, Matasareanu was unable to start the truck since its owner had taken the keys. As KCBS and KCAL helicopters hover overhead, a patrol car driven by SWAT officers quickly arrived. Matasareanu left the truck, took cover behind the original getaway car, and engaged them immediately. At least one SWAT officer fired his M16 rifle below the cars and wounded Matasareanu in his unprotected lower legs, and he soon surrendered. The police radioed for an ambulance, but Matasareanu succumbed to his wounds by the time the ambulance had reached the scene.After the incident, more patrol officers were issued automatic firearms to protect them from heavilly armed suspects and at the same time, the US government has given surplus M16s to the LAPD.