Phillips and Matasareanu were not amateurs. Since 1993, they had robbed armored cars and banks across the western United States, earning the FBI designation 'High Incident Bandits' for their overwhelming firepower. In 1995, they ambushed a Brink's armored car in Winnetka, killing guard Herman Cook. In 1996, they robbed two Bank of America branches in the San Fernando Valley, stealing approximately $1.5 million. When Glendale police pulled them over in 1993 for speeding, they found two semi-automatic rifles, 2,800 rounds of ammunition, explosive devices, body armor, and smoke bombs. Due to plea bargaining, both men served only 100 days in jail. Most of their seized property was returned except the firearms. They had learned from that arrest. On February 28, they wore homemade armor that covered their torsos, and had sewn watches onto the backs of their gloves to monitor their timing.

The first officers on scene carried 9mm pistols and .38 revolvers. Some patrol cars had 12-gauge shotguns. Phillips and Matasareanu carried Norinco Type 56 rifles modified for automatic fire, a Bushmaster XM-15 with a 100-round drum magazine, and a Heckler & Koch HK91. Their body armor absorbed everything the officers fired. News helicopters captured Officer Richard Zielenski taking cover behind a Del Taco restaurant, firing 86 rounds at Phillips. Sergeant Dean Haynes was hit in the shoulder and legs. Officer Martin Whitfield took four rounds to his arm, femur, and chest. Several officers ran to a nearby gun store, B&B Sales, and commandeered AR-15 rifles to fight back. An LAPD SWAT team arrived 18 minutes in, wearing running shoes and shorts under their body armor because they had been on a training run when the call came.

Phillips was shot 11 times before dying on the street. His final wound was self-inflicted to the chin. Matasareanu, hit 29 times in the legs, bled to death from two gunshot wounds to his left thigh. Toxicology reports revealed both men had taken the sedative phenobarbital before entering the bank. Over 300 law enforcement officers from various agencies responded to the citywide tactical alert. The entire incident, including both deaths, was broadcast live by hovering news helicopters. The robbers had fired a round approximately every two seconds. When it was over, Courthouse Square and the intersection looked like a war zone, with shell casings carpeting the pavement and bullet-riddled vehicles marking where officers had desperately sought cover.

Seven months after the shootout, the Department of Defense gave 600 surplus M16 rifles to the LAPD. Patrol vehicles began carrying AR-15s as standard equipment, with Kevlar plating added to their doors. Officers were authorized to carry .45 caliber pistols instead of the 9mm weapons that had proven inadequate. The shift rippled across American law enforcement. Eighteen officers received the LAPD Medal of Valor and met President Bill Clinton. The Los Angeles Police Museum in Highland Park now displays life-size mannequins of Phillips and Matasareanu in replica armor, alongside the white 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity getaway car and Officer Whitfield's bullet-scarred squad car. The intersection at Laurel Canyon and Archwood has returned to mundane suburban commerce, but it marks the spot where American policing confronted its limitations and emerged transformed.