San Fernando Valley : Gunmen Shoot at Armored Car; 1 Hurt

Shots rang out on a busy residential street in Woodland Hills on Wednesday as gunmen opened fire on a Brinks armored truck, chased the truck briefly, then fled, dumping their van in an alley and setting it afire.

The attack could have been a robbery attempt or an act of revenge against one of the three guards in the Brinks truck, according to police officials. Police are investigating a possible link to the shooting of a suspect by a Brinks guard during a robbery attempt last summer in Sylmar.

In Wednesday’s incident, the shots came from a parked van, shattering the Brinks truck windshield and narrowly missing the driver, said Jose Baca, a Brinks guard who was in the back of the truck at the time.

“The glass was flying everywhere, but he was able to keep driving,” Baca said.

The driver managed to steer the truck onto the sidewalk, across an empty lot and onto a side street. The suspects followed for a short distance but then rushed from the scene, Baca said. Police say they are still at large.

The driver, who was cut by glass, was the only one of the three guards in the truck injured. He was taken to Columbia West Hills Medical Center where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in stable condition. Police would not release his name.

Shortly after Wednesday’s shooting, the van used by the gunmen was found several blocks away in an alley, gutted by fire.

“The van was torched by the suspects,” said Lt. James Razukas of the Los Angeles Police Department’s robbery-homicide division.

“Whether they were successful or not, as far as destroying physical evidence, we won’t know for awhile.”

In a recent movie, “Heat,” armored car robbers torch their getaway vehicle. At the shooting scene, one police officer wondered aloud if the suspects could have gotten the idea from the film. But most other details of the real-life attack were dissimilar from the film.