The 1997 North Hollywood Bank Robbery & Shootout Forever Changed Policing In The United States
On February 28, 1997, two heavily armed men robbed the North Hollywood Bank of America and engaged LAPD officers in one of the most intense shootouts in American history
Published in
10 min readApr 3, 2024
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On the morning of Friday, February 28, 1997, two heavily armed men wearing modified body armor robbed the Bank of America North branch in North Hollywood. As one of the robbers exited the bank, he was met by LAPD officers and began to engage them in a gunfight.
By the time it was all over, the North Hollywood Shootout as it would come to be known, would be remembered as one of the most ferocious firefights in law enforcement history, leading to a change in U.S. police weapons and tactics.
Background
Though the two men who would eventually be remembered as the perpetrators of the North Hollywood Shootout came from different backgrounds culturally, they…
