We recently had an interesting conversation to someone very close to the event; during that exchange they used a word to describe what they perceived our mentalities to be when it comes to this story.
Obsession.
It may have been a fair assessment, maybe. Yet behind every passion is a reason to do whatever it is you do. For us it has never been more or less than telling the truth.
We were both alive when the event happened and both remember the news. Yet years later when we sat down and discussed why felt we needed to go down this far down this particular rabbit hole; the answer from both sides was abundantly clear.
The truth, from an impartial perspective, had never been presented to the public.
The 'truth' that has been presented to the public so far has sometimes been based on perverse recall, misinterpreted facts, or downright untruths, sensationalism and perhaps more importantly, sanitation of facts by both the LAPD and FBI.
The LAPD and the L.A Times were the two biggest players in the story that went out to the public, both on the day and in the weeks, months and years that followed. Yet both parties had a vested interest in telling the story in their own fashion. The LAPD because they wanted to laud, and rightly so in a lot of cases, their officers and command staff from the day. The L.A Times because a story as large as this sells a lot of papers; yet as comprehensively as they tried to cover this case they still did not have the resources and contacts to dive deep into Phillips and Matasareanu’s lives; and their lives are the all-important part of the tale.
The actions they performed, as destructive and despicable as they were, were the pinnacle of their story, the question was and still is: How did they get there, what influenced them?
The media all too quickly wrote them off as 'psychopaths', but that is a highly inaccurate term in regards to these men.
Police were busy patting each other on the back for a job well done under supremely adverse conditions to care much about why they had to do that job in the first place. Quietly though, behind closed doors, we know many of them wondered just who the hell these two men were.
As the days, weeks and months ticked past Phillips and Matasareanu became almost cardboard cut-outs, two dimensional villains, only important insofar as what their actions could do for certain entities in the immediate timeframe. Did it not seem important to learn who these men were? Their influences? So maybe, just maybe, somewhere along the line the signs could be recognised and maybe prevent another assault like this happening.
It was, and still is 'the story behind the story'.
So whilst we have focussed on telling the story of what is known, we have worked extraordinarily hard to dig into the story that is unknown. Piece by piece we are attempting to bring that to the surface.
It has taken us eleven years from inception to now to meticulously document the actions committed that you will read about on the website, minute and miniscule moment by moment dissection of the timeline. We have had to learn a multitude of new skills, develop information libraries that have far surpassed anything we thought we would ever have to deal with, cultivate contacts in all walks of life and instil in them that we were writing this story for the right reasons.
In a world of sensationalist media this event obviously was a big draw for the locusts both sides of the line, the media to sell copy, the looky-loos to see the blood and poke fingers in the bullet holes that remained.
We had to be seen to be something different, an honest entity with no dog in the fight for either side, it has been, and continues to be, an extraordinarily tough battle to fight in that regard.
Yet for every closed door, every over-redacted file, every odd look, every stonewalled request from certain entities, every blatant 'We know what you do, so no, you can’t have access to what we know' there has been the other side. The hospitality, the friends made, the willingness to rip the scab off painful memories for our cause, the genuine warmth and excitement that we are putting the correct story out there. Those have made this epic journey worthwhile, for we have never done this for the money. In fact to this date we have never taken a penny in restitution for our efforts, not a single one despite sinking tens of thousands of dollars into sourcing all the information you see on this site. Some things are just worth more than money; truth is the highest on that list.
So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to those that have interacted with us through social media, email or in person offering information, messages of support or just alternate points for discussion, you truly have no idea of your worth to this project.

What does the future hold? This is an answer that is dependent upon when you read this. For 2020 we have some exciting prospects in store if they pan out, the lid may well and truly be lifted upon one of the gunmen's background.
In the long term, well that's a longer story. When I came to this project the website was just a place to collate all the information in a logical order, more for my own purpose than public viewing, yet it grew exponentially from there into the creature you see today. I never expected to sink so much of my life into this and there have been periods where the project felt never-ending, there was no light at the end of the tunnel.
In the long term we will always be here; for as long as we can afford the hosting fees the site will remain online and be added to as new information flows our way. If you have enjoyed our work and wish to donate to assist in covering host fees we have added a subtle link at the bottom of the home page, the link will only be active for as long as there is a need for the fee to be covered, when we have reached the target it will be disabled.
So to close this introduction, we would again like to thank you for your continued support and hope you find this work of ours both informative and thought provoking.

L.M.
A.M.
13/03/2020