WESTSIDE : Man Slain by Armored Truck Driver During Holdup in Mall

A robber who pulled a gun on two armored-truck company drivers in a crowded elevator at the Beverly Center was shot to death by one of them Tuesday when he tried to force the men into their vehicle, police said.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Bruce Wallace said the incident occurred about 2:45 p.m., when two drivers for the Loomis armored truck company arrived at the Westside shopping mall to make a pickup or delivery.

Wallace said the two men took the elevator from the second floor of the parking structure to the seventh floor of the mall, got off, conducted their business and got back into the elevator to return to their vehicle.

As the doors began to close, the gunman slipped in behind them, Wallace said, and “somewhere between the seventh floor and the second floor, with a bunch of other passengers on the elevator,” the man produced a handgun and aimed it at the two guards.

Wallace said the man forced the Loomis employees to get off the elevator at the second floor.

“But when they got off, the suspect paid too much attention to one employee,” Wallace said. The distraction enabled the second Loomis employee to pull out his service revolver, Wallace said.

“He fired once, shooting the suspect in the head and killing him,” Wallace said.

Coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said the name of the dead man was not immediately available, pending notification of next of kin.