Bank Robbers Cause Mass Shootout With Cops | World’s Wildest Police Videos

North Hollywood, February 1997 . This is the case that would change the rules forever . Officers find themselves against a fully automatic modified AK-47 with armored piercing bullets . Two bank robbers wearing body armor unleash a barrage of ammunition unlike anything police have ever dealt with . They're wearing heavy uh body armor , so it's not knocking them down at all . Outgunned officers take cover where they can , behind parked cars, behind buildings . But all the cover provides is a veil . The gunmen's powerful bullets tear through concrete and metal and find their targets . Officer down. . Police return fire, but their 9 mm bullets only chip away at the building . The gunmen are unfazed. . They continue to launch 10 rounds per second at everything in sight . This reporter is caught in the crossfire as armored piercing slugs ricochet past his head . Helicopters record the mayhem . They too become targets . Police respond quickly, clearing the area of civilians . Then the gunmen begin their escape . One robber drives the getaway car . The other strolls alongside as a sweeper, clearing the path of anyone that might stop them . The cops' aim doesn't matter . The suspects' body armor repels the smaller ammunition easily . Police have to act, and they know just what to do . Hit the local gun store and even the odds by obtaining high-powered weapons . We heard the police were up against perpetrators with body [music] armor , which their normal weapons could not penetrate . And if they needed instant firepower , we loaned them five of these rifles