Norco Shootout - The Robbery and Pursuit

The Robbery and Pursuit

At 3:40 p.m. 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 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 the windshield and forcing Bolasky to throw the vehicle in reverse. Bolasky's cruiser 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 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 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 County Sheriff's Deputy D. J. McCarty, who brought an AR-15 to the shootout. 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 County Sheriff's Deputy Rolf Parkes. "After their capture, the suspects stated their intent was to fight to the death."