Police Scour Home for Ties to Gunmen

Los Angeles police searched a Granada Hills home Thursday where one of the gunmen involved in last week’s deadly shootout apparently lived with his wife and child until a few months ago, and examined a car in Rowland Heights that was linked to the same gunman.

Detectives carried out two black rifle cases, a metal chest that resembled an ammunition box and a black duffel bag from the three-bedroom house, which had been rented to Emil Dechebal Matasareanu. Police impounded a dark blue or black 1995 Buick Century sedan parked in the garage of the Granada Hills home.

More mundane items also were found, including bodybuilding magazines and two Los Angeles Police Department hats, said a source familiar with the investigation. Both gunmen were killed in the shootout that followed a bank robbery in North Hollywood.

Police spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba, who declined to reveal what was recovered in the search, said Matasareanu had lived there with his family, but moved recently. Neighbors said the burly, blond Matasareanu, his wife and their toddler moved in last April or May, but have not been seen since the winter holidays.

“They haven’t lived in the house for about two months now,” said Shad Ayoub, 20, who lives next door. “But we never saw any moving vans or anything.”

Someone occasionally collected mail from the home in the evening, and lights outside the home still snapped on at night, as if by electric timer, neighbors said.

Ayoub and others described Matasareanu, 30, and his family as quiet people who did not socialize with others on the block.

“I’ve talked to him before. He’s just a nice guy,” Ayoub said. “Last June, we were having a graduation party for my brother, and we asked all the neighbors’ permission, and he said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ ”

The other gunman, Larry Eugene Phillips Jr., was a regular visitor, often pulling up to the house in a Jaguar, which either belonged to him or Matasareanu, neighbors said. At other times, a Lincoln Town Car would be parked in the driveway and also a dark Buick, possibly the one discovered in the garage Thursday.

The fancy wheels caught the attention of neighbor Charles Miskell, who lives two houses down.

“They had a lot of big cars and a lot of fancy stuff for that young an age,” Miskell said. It made him “a little suspicious, but I let it go.”

Miskell’s son, Bob, said: “They kept to themselves, and we were a little curious as to what they did for a living.”

So far, police have conducted searches in at least three other locations as they scour for money, weapons or additional evidence that would link the men to other crimes or criminal organizations.

In Rowland Heights on Thursday, at another home identified as a residence for the Matasareanu family, investigators combed through a Mercury sedan. Several items were seized, including “elements that could have been used to make an explosive device,” a police spokesman said.

Late Thursday, employees of a repossession company also removed a late-model black Lincoln Town Car from the garage of the Rowland Heights home. Company officials, who declined to be identified, said the car had been either leased or purchased by Matasareanu, but payments had not been kept up.

Police evacuated the area and used a robot to remove the items from the car.

Earlier this week, police recovered an assortment of weapons, paramilitary gear and survivalist manuals from the Rowland Heights home, according to a police source. Neighbors said they believe that the family moved into the house three months ago.

Elsewhere, police confiscated a small box from the Altadena home of Matasareanu’s mother and two computers, computer disks and documents from a Pasadena commercial building also owned by his mother. Investigators also found a mentally disabled woman locked in a dark room at the Pasadena location with no food, water or toilet.

Pasadena police are investigating whether the 44-year-old woman was the victim of an illegal board and care facility.

Authorities suspect that Matasareanu and Phillips may have been responsible for two previous bank heists and two armored car robberies. The Buick impounded Thursday may be linked to one of those crimes, a law enforcement source said.

Meanwhile, at the North Hollywood police station, flowers, sweets, greeting cards and notes continued to pour in, thanking police and wishing the injured officers well.

Three officers returned to duty at the station Wednesday. “There’s a lot of backslapping and congratulating going on,” Capt. Richard Wahler said.

Police psychologists continued to have group meetings with officers to help them cope with the stress of the shootout. Wahler said he expects that to continue through next week.

“I’m encouraging people to go,” Wahler said. “I may go myself.”

More than 70 residents attended the last of three community counseling sessions Thursday, sponsored by city and county mental health officials to help neighbors express and release their emotions. Some arrived at the Victory Elementary School in North Hollywood, still in tears and shaking from the siege six days before.

Brad Bechtol, 54, who has lived in the neighborhood for 47 years, said,: “There has never been anything like this violence before. People here are truly shell-shocked.”

Times staff writers Beth Shuster, Martha L. Willman, Matt Lait, Solomon Moore, Henry Weinstein and Greg Krikorian and correspondents Greg Sandoval and Richard Winton contributed to this story.