Norco shootout
Encyclopedia
The Norco shootout was an armed confrontation between five heavily armed bank robbers
and deputies of the Riverside
and San Bernardino County
sheriff's departments
in Norco
, California
, United States
on May 9, 1980. Two of the five perpetrators and one sheriff's deputy were killed, 9 other law enforcement officers were injured, and gunfire damaged at least 30 police car
s and one police helicopter.
At approximately 3:40 p.m. (UTC-7
), five men armed with shotgun
s, an assault rifle
, handgun
s, and an improvised explosive device
robbed the Norco branch of Security Pacific Bank
. Deputies of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department responding to the bank robbery call confronted the perpetrators outside the bank and a shootout
ensued, killing one perpetrator. The perpetrators then stole a vehicle
in the bank parking lot and fled the scene, leading police on a 25 miles (40.2 km) car chase
into neighboring San Bernardino County. Riverside County deputies were joined in the pursuit by officers
of other area law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol
and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
. The perpetrators then ambushed the pursuing deputies and engaged them in another shootout in unincorporated
San Bernardino County near Lytle Creek
before escaping into a wooded area in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains
.
Two days later, three of the four surviving perpetrators were arrested in the area of the ambush; the fourth was killed by police. The three who were arrested were convicted of 46 felonies
and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
.
Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Glyn Bolasky was the first officer to arrive at the scene. As he pulled up, one of the robbers left outside with their getaway van radioed his partners inside the bank and said "We've been spotted, Let's go! Let's go!". The robbers then exited the bank and began to fire on Deputy Bolasky's police cruiser, blowing out his windshield and forcing Bolasky to throw the vehicle in reverse. Bolasky's cruiser eventually crashed into another car in the street. Taking cover behind his vehicle, Bolasky returned fire at the gunmen. The gunmen got into the van and once all five men were inside, they attempted to flee the scene, continuing to shoot at Bolasky. As the van sped away, a pellet from Bolasky's shotgun struck the driver, Belisaro Delgado, in the back of the head, killing him and sending the van crashing into a telephone pole guy-wire
. The four remaining robbers then exited the vehicle and fired over 200 rounds at Bolasky, putting 47 bullet holes in his cruiser. Bolasky was hit five times; in the face, upper left shoulder, both forearms and the left elbow.
By this time, Deputies Charles Hille and Andy Delgado (no relation to Belisaro Delgado) had arrived at the scene. While Delgado engaged the robbers with gunfire, Hille managed to evacuate Bolasky in his cruiser and transport him to a nearby hospital. The robbers continued to fire at other officers arriving at the scene, and eventually attempted to escape again by commandeering a truck stopped at the intersection in front of the bank. As the four led a police pursuit, they shot at the pursuing officers and threw homemade bombs out the back of the truck. Overall, they damaged 33 police vehicles, including a police helicopter
, forcing it to land.
The suspects eventually pulled far ahead of the pursuing police officers and stopped to ambush them as they caught up. Officer James Evans, one of the first police units to come under attack during the ambush, was shot in the head and killed. The police, armed with only .38 caliber revolvers and 12 gauge shotguns, were out-gunned. They were, however, soon joined by San Bernardino
Sheriff's Deputy D. J. McCarty, who brought an AR-15
to the shootout. His presence was crucial. Shortly after he engaged the robbers with his rifle, they stopped shooting and fled the scene, running into the wooded area of Lytle Creek, San Bernardino. "There would have been a lot more dead cops on the road if not for that weapon" said Riverside Deputy Rolf Parkes, a participant in the police response that day, "after their capture, the suspects stated their intent was to fight to the death".
team in the foothills. In all, eight officers had been wounded and one killed. The three arrested suspects, George Wayne Smith and brothers Christopher and Russell Harven, were convicted of 46 felonies and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Officer Bolasky recovered from his injuries sustained in the shootout and was awarded several decorations for his actions. He later became an officer in the U. S. Air Force.
After this incident the San Bernardino County Sheriffs department equipped their deputies with Ruger Mini-14's chambered in .223 Remington
as well as the M-16 and AR-15. Although the robbery happened in 1980, such was its impact that even today it is still used to train law enforcement personnel in anti-terrorism and survival tactics.
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
and deputies of the Riverside
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...
and San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,035,210, up from 1,709,434 as of the 2000 census...
sheriff's departments
Sheriffs in the United States
In the United States, a sheriff is a county official and is typically the top law enforcement officer of a county. Historically, the sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county. Distinctive to law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. The political election of...
in Norco
Norco, California
Norco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,063, up from 24,157 at the 2000 census...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on May 9, 1980. Two of the five perpetrators and one sheriff's deputy were killed, 9 other law enforcement officers were injured, and gunfire damaged at least 30 police car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
s and one police helicopter.
At approximately 3:40 p.m. (UTC-7
UTC-7
thumb|300px|UTC−07: Blue , Orange , Yellow , Light Blue - Sea areasUTC−07:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −07....
), five men armed with shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s, an assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
, handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s, and an improvised explosive device
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
robbed the Norco branch of Security Pacific Bank
Security Pacific Bank
Security Pacific National Bank was a large US bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. In 1992 Bank of America acquired SPNB.-History:...
. Deputies of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department responding to the bank robbery call confronted the perpetrators outside the bank and a shootout
Shootout
A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements; it could also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs. A shootout in a military context A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups....
ensued, killing one perpetrator. The perpetrators then stole a vehicle
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
in the bank parking lot and fled the scene, leading police on a 25 miles (40.2 km) car chase
Car chase
A car chase is the vehicular pursuit of a suspect by law enforcement officers. Car chases are often captured on film and broadcast due to the availability of video footage recorded by police cars and police and media helicopters participating in the chase...
into neighboring San Bernardino County. Riverside County deputies were joined in the pursuit by officers
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
of other area law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and also acts as the state police....
and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department serves San Bernardino County, California, which is geographically the largest county in the lower 48 states. SBSD provides law enforcement services to the unincorporated areas of the county and contract law enforcement services to 14 of the county's...
. The perpetrators then ambushed the pursuing deputies and engaged them in another shootout in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
San Bernardino County near Lytle Creek
Lytle Creek, California
Lytle Creek is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County. It is about northwest of downtown San Bernardino and 10 miles from the cities of Fontana and Rialto. This small remote community is located in a large southeast-trending canyon on the eastern portion of the San GabrielMountains...
before escaping into a wooded area in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range north and east of San Bernardino in Southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 miles east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the...
.
Two days later, three of the four surviving perpetrators were arrested in the area of the ambush; the fourth was killed by police. The three who were arrested were convicted of 46 felonies
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
.
The robbery and pursuit
At 3:40 in the afternoon on May 9, 1980, four robbers stormed into the bank and forced the tellers to hand over $20,000 in cash, while the fifth robber kept watch outside. Unknown to the robbers, an employee at a different bank across the street had spotted them entering the bank and called the police.Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Glyn Bolasky was the first officer to arrive at the scene. As he pulled up, one of the robbers left outside with their getaway van radioed his partners inside the bank and said "We've been spotted, Let's go! Let's go!". The robbers then exited the bank and began to fire on Deputy Bolasky's police cruiser, blowing out his windshield and forcing Bolasky to throw the vehicle in reverse. Bolasky's cruiser eventually crashed into another car in the street. Taking cover behind his vehicle, Bolasky returned fire at the gunmen. The gunmen got into the van and once all five men were inside, they attempted to flee the scene, continuing to shoot at Bolasky. As the van sped away, a pellet from Bolasky's shotgun struck the driver, Belisaro Delgado, in the back of the head, killing him and sending the van crashing into a telephone pole guy-wire
Guy-wire
A guy-wire or guy-rope, also known as simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to structures . One end of the cable is attached to the structure, and the other is anchored to the ground at a distance from the structure's base...
. The four remaining robbers then exited the vehicle and fired over 200 rounds at Bolasky, putting 47 bullet holes in his cruiser. Bolasky was hit five times; in the face, upper left shoulder, both forearms and the left elbow.
By this time, Deputies Charles Hille and Andy Delgado (no relation to Belisaro Delgado) had arrived at the scene. While Delgado engaged the robbers with gunfire, Hille managed to evacuate Bolasky in his cruiser and transport him to a nearby hospital. The robbers continued to fire at other officers arriving at the scene, and eventually attempted to escape again by commandeering a truck stopped at the intersection in front of the bank. As the four led a police pursuit, they shot at the pursuing officers and threw homemade bombs out the back of the truck. Overall, they damaged 33 police vehicles, including a police helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, forcing it to land.
The suspects eventually pulled far ahead of the pursuing police officers and stopped to ambush them as they caught up. Officer James Evans, one of the first police units to come under attack during the ambush, was shot in the head and killed. The police, armed with only .38 caliber revolvers and 12 gauge shotguns, were out-gunned. They were, however, soon joined by San Bernardino
San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California is a large city in the Inland Empire Metropolitan Area of Southern California.San Bernardino may also refer to:-Landforms:*San Bernardino , a torrent that flows through the Italian province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola...
Sheriff's Deputy D. J. McCarty, who brought an AR-15
AR-15
The AR-15 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle, with a rotating-lock bolt, actuated by direct impingement gas operation. It is manufactured with the extensive use of aluminum alloys and synthetic materials....
to the shootout. His presence was crucial. Shortly after he engaged the robbers with his rifle, they stopped shooting and fled the scene, running into the wooded area of Lytle Creek, San Bernardino. "There would have been a lot more dead cops on the road if not for that weapon" said Riverside Deputy Rolf Parkes, a participant in the police response that day, "after their capture, the suspects stated their intent was to fight to the death".
Aftermath
The next day, three of the gunmen were arrested. The fourth, Manuel Delgado (Belisaro's brother), was killed in a shootout with a SWATSWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team in the foothills. In all, eight officers had been wounded and one killed. The three arrested suspects, George Wayne Smith and brothers Christopher and Russell Harven, were convicted of 46 felonies and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Officer Bolasky recovered from his injuries sustained in the shootout and was awarded several decorations for his actions. He later became an officer in the U. S. Air Force.
After this incident the San Bernardino County Sheriffs department equipped their deputies with Ruger Mini-14's chambered in .223 Remington
.223 Remington
The .223 Remington is a sporting cartridge with almost the same external dimensions as the 5.56×45mm NATO military cartridge. The name is commonly pronounced either two-two-three or two-twenty-three. It is loaded with a diameter, jacketed bullet, with weights ranging from , though the most common...
as well as the M-16 and AR-15. Although the robbery happened in 1980, such was its impact that even today it is still used to train law enforcement personnel in anti-terrorism and survival tactics.
See also
- North Hollywood shootoutNorth Hollywood shootoutThe North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
- Bank robberyBank robberyBank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
- Norco, CaliforniaNorco, CaliforniaNorco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,063, up from 24,157 at the 2000 census...
- 1986 FBI Miami shootout
- Newhall massacreNewhall MassacreThe Newhall massacre or Newhall Incident was a shootout between two heavily armed criminals and officers of the California Highway Patrol in the Newhall unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, California on April 6, 1970...
- 2009 shooting of Oakland police officers2009 shooting of Oakland police officersTwo shootings of Oakland, California police officers took place on Saturday, March 21, 2009, when four officers were killed by a convicted felon wanted on a no-bail warrant for a parole violation...