North Hollywood shootout

Background

On 28 February 1997 Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, heavily armed and wearing home-made body armour, robbed a Bank of America branch in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. As they left the bank a prolonged gun battle with the police followed, in which nearly 2,000 rounds were fired in total. Both robbers died; twelve police officers and eight civilians were injured. Patrol officers' pistols and shotguns proved barely effective against the illegally converted automatic rifles, which sparked a debate in the United States about giving ordinary police patrols heavier weapons.

Sources: Wikipedia: North Hollywood shootout