3 Men Rob Armored Car at Gunpoint Outside Bank, Flee After Beating Guard

Three men held up an armored car making a cash delivery Tuesday morning, beating a guard and taking his gun before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money, police said.

The guards were not seriously injured, and no shots were fired during the incident.

At 9 a.m., the Armored Transport Inc. car backed into a parking space behind American Pacific State Bank in the 8000 block of Vineland Avenue, and a guard got out of the back of the vehicle with a bag of money, Los Angeles police said.

Three gunmen surprised the guards, beating to the ground the man holding the money bag and ordering the driver out of the cab at gunpoint, said Lt. Anthony Alba, an LAPD spokesman. The guard who was beaten suffered minor injuries, Alba said.

The guards apparently had not locked the door between the front and back of the armored car, said Det. John Krulac, a robbery investigator at LAPD’s North Hollywood station.

The guards were ordered to lie face down on the asphalt as the men fled in a large red ‘80s-model American car, police said.

The assailants are believed to be armed with a guard’s gun and a rifle, Alba said.