Gunmen Rob Armored Car Guard : Crime: Two natty thieves steal $10,000 in an early-morning robbery outside the Sherman Oaks Galleria.

Two well-dressed and well-armed men held up an armored car guard Tuesday morning outside the Sherman Oaks Galleria and escaped with $10,000 by running into the shopping mall, Los Angeles police said.

No shots were fired and no one was hurt in the 9:30 a.m. robbery on the steps outside the mall at Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards, Lt. Sal Hoyos said.

A Loomis Armored Inc. guard had just made a cash pickup at Home Federal Savings inside the mall and was on his way back to an armored truck parked outside the mall.

Hoyos said the guard, whose name was not released, was going down the steps outside the mall when two men stuck the barrels of guns into his back. The two clean-cut men wore gray business suits and no masks. Both had automatic pistols, Hoyos said.

“They told him not to move,” Hoyos said. “Then they took the orange bank bag from him, and his gun. They told him to start going forward and not to follow them. He did what he was told. After a few seconds--when he thought it was safe--he started calling for help. But the suspects were gone.”

The steps where the robbery took place were not within the sight of the armored truck driver who was waiting for the guard to return and did not realize a robbery was occurring.

Hoyos said the suspects went into the three-level mall and out another exit. Several police officers responded quickly to the robbery but the suspects were not found during a search of the mall, which had just opened.

Hoyos said the suspects and methods used during the robbery did not match any other cases under investigation by the police.