Evans had mentioned his worries about this imbalance to his wife and had planned for his own demise, which he correctly predicted was inevitable as the violence between police and citizens continued to escalate. Forty years later, the frustration of not being listened to by higher ups about increasingly being outgunned is palpable in Cereijido’s interviews. The widow of Jim Evans, as well as several other surviving officers who were present at the scene, recount how their department-issue pistols were no match for the weaponry of the Norco robbers. This was a watershed moment for law enforcement, who were increasingly finding themselves under-resourced to deal with a public who had legal access to assault rifles. In the ensuring chase, three of them were killed, as was a police officer, Jim Evans. Yet, on May 9, 1980, after carjacking a van and kidnapping its driver, five men stormed the Security Pacific Bank, fueled by their religious belief that the end of the world was near, emboldened by their possession of heavy artillery and IEDs, and motivated by their bleak job prospects to try something radical. Tucked in the northwestern corner of Riverside County, Norco backed up against rural countryside and was known as a sleepy horse community. Produced and hosted by Antonia Cereijido, the podcast is based on the namesake 2020 book by Peter Houlahan.Įpisode one opens with a gripping timeline of the events that took place in Norco, California, a town with fewer than twenty-thousand residents. Norco 80, a new eight-episode series from LAist studios, chronicles a deadly bank heist that changed the fabric of a small town while influencing an entire generation of law enforcement to adopt military-style policing tactics that employ automatic weapons, helicopters, and leverage advanced tactical training.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |