Two guards killed in armored car heist

Angie Wagner

Friday, March 3, 2000 | 3:05 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Masked gunmen carrying assault rifles shot and killed two armored car guards in a strip mall ambush before escaping with three bags of money Friday.

At least three men were involved in the well-orchestrated heist that involved at least four vans and cars with Texas license plates.

"It obviously was not your run-of-the-mill robbery," Henderson police Chief Michael Mayberry said. "This was well-planned."

Mayberry said the guards were attempting to take bags of money into a Ross Dress For Less store in a strip mall in Henderson, 10 miles southeast of Las Vegas, when they were ambushed about 11:25 a.m.

Two robbers gunned down the first guard as he walked toward the store with a bag of money. The second guard, the driver, was shot when he heard the shooting and went to investigate, police Capt. Richard Perkins said.

Police believe one of the guards exchanged gunfire with a robber and wounded him, possibly in the leg. They found blood in an abandoned getaway car.

The names of the dead guards, who worked for Armored Transport of Nevada, were not immediately released, police said. One man was 47, the other 23, officers said.

"It was pretty gruesome," said witness Paul Acuna.

The gunmen grabbed one bag of money from the fallen guards, then reached into the armored truck and took two more, then got into a car driven by the third robber, Mayberry said.

The chief said he did not know how much money was taken.

The robbers switched cars a short distance from the strip mall.

Mayberry said the three men arrived at the mall separately in two vans and a car. The men in the vans got out and began shooting while the third waited in the car.

"The two vans that were laying in wait to ambush the driver had been there about 2 1/2 hours," Perkins said. "It was planned out far enough in advance."