Brinks Guard Hurt, Robber Killed in Shootout : Crime: Victim is in serious condition. Pair attempted the holdup outside a bank, using wheelchair as distraction.

Using a wheelchair as a distraction, two men unsuccessfully tried to rob a Brinks armored truck Thursday morning, leaving one guard in serious condition and a robber mortally wounded during a wild shootout in front of a Bank of America.

The shooting came just two months after two men shot and killed a Brinks guard during a robbery in Winnetka.

“The whole scene was pretty crazy,” said Craig Bowden, who was working near the bank when gunfire erupted. “The gunshots were really loud and there were people running everywhere.”

Witnesses said the incident began about 10:45 a.m. as the Brinks truck pulled up to the bank at Foothill Boulevard and Astoria Street. Waiting were two men, one in the wheelchair, the other pushing him from behind.

As the guard walked toward the bank entrance, the man in the wheelchair suddenly demanded money and he and the guard exchanged gunfire, hitting each other in the torso, according to police. The would-be robber also was shot once in the face, police said. He died several hours later at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Under company policy, one Brinks guard remains in the armored truck while the other enters the bank. During the attempted robbery, adhering to Brinks policy, the second guard stayed inside the truck, pleading for help over his radio as his co-worker was shot. Bowden, who had hit the ground when he heard the shots, saw the guard calling frantically on his radio for help.

Meanwhile, the other robber escaped on foot, unharmed, into a nearby strip mall, as dazed onlookers ran for cover in the busy intersection, police said.

Just hours after the attempted robbery, the shiny wheelchair sat folded in the street with the bloody shirt of the robber just a few feet away.

The guard was listed in serious condition at Holy Cross.

Neither the guard nor the dead robber were identified.

Although Brinks drivers stagger their pickup schedules, the robbers were probably aware of when the truck might arrive, said Lt. Joseph Garcia, head of detectives for the LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Police said it was too early to determine whether the robbers were the same two gunmen who held up a Bank of America in June, fatally shooting armored guard Herman Cook, 51, as they escaped. In that shooting, near Winnetka Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard, the robbers got away with an undisclosed amount of money.

The robbers did not use a wheelchair ruse in the Winnetka robbery, when they ambushed Cook as he emerged from the armored truck.