ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 2, 1997 TAG: 9703030116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News
FACING FAR SUPERIOR firepower, the LAPD turned to a nearby gun dealer for help.
Just after 9:15 a.m. Friday, armed LAPD officers screeched their cars to a stop in front of B&B Sales, a gun shop in suburban Los Angeles. They were outgunned by suspects in a bank robbery and looking for more-powerful weapons.
``We need your help! We have an army out there!'' one officer shouted, according to Rachel Cohen, a mortgage broker who works next door to B&B in North Hollywood.
The patrol officers - armed only with 9mm handguns and shotguns - were facing ``million-to-one odds'' against robbers wearing body armor and toting high-powered automatic rifles with ranges up to five times that of the officers' weapons, said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dan Hoffman.
The gun store's manager, who asked not to be identified, said he opened his warehouse to the police officers, who were desperate for semiautomatic rifles, high-powered semiautomatic shotguns and 4,000 rounds of ``rifle shots,'' or ammunition far more powerful than the LAPD's.
``They told us that the people had body armor, and the police said that they didn't have any ammunition that could penetrate it,'' the manager said. ``They told us that their handguns didn't have enough fire power and that their shotguns didn't have enough fire power to handle the situation.''
Half a dozen patrol cars were outfitted from the store's warehouse with six semiautomatic rifles and two semiautomatic shotguns, which amount to about $8,000 in equipment, including the four cases of ammunition, he said.
The shop's rifles are effective up to 300 yards, compared with the LAPD officers' handguns, which have a range up to 50 yards. The department's pump shotguns have a use of up to 100 yards.
It was the first time the gun shop had been called on by the LAPD to provide arms, he said. ``They were appreciative. We did the best we could to help them.''
People from nearby businesses watched in disbelief as the gun dealer fortified the LAPD.
``Police were running in and out of the B&B, and employees were running out with crates filled with guns, bullets and ammunitions,'' said Sandy Shover, an underwriter for All City Real Estate Loans.
The officers and employees broke open the crates with crowbars and loaded the weapons into the trunks of the patrol cars, and the police took off, she said.
``They were just loading up police cars,'' Shover said.``They would pull up, load them and take off.''
LAPD patrol officers, like other police around the country, carry only shotguns and handguns, Hoffman said, and patrol officers knew they couldn't match up with the robbers unless they got better weapons.
``You can hardly describe the difference,'' Hoffman said. ``They could fire three rounds at once; it's rapid-fire, heavy artillery. What they had was a weapon of war, really.''
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB