HALLANDALE, Fla. -- Police surprised four gunmen trying to rob a bank Friday, triggering a parking lot shootout in which a robber dressed as a security guard was killed and one officer was wounded, authorities said.
Two robbers escaped and a suspect was arrested, Hallandale Police Chief Richard C. Fox said.
The identities of the suspect and the dead robber were not released.
Four bank employees were ushered to safety by police when the shooting started and bullets shattered windows in two stores across the street, but no employees or bystanders were reported hurt.
Fox said the City National Bank heist appeared to have been done by professionals.
'It takes some planning to do a job like this,' Fox told a news conference. 'They knew the routine; they had gotten security uniforms. This was not sloppy at all.'
The robbers got into the bank when one showed up dressed as a security guard and told an employee the regular guard was sick. Police do not know what happened to the real guard, and were looking for him, Fox said.
Shortly after 7 a.m., police Officer Daniel C. O'Connell answered a silent alarm at the bank. He was met at the door and tied up by the robber disguised as the guard.
A few minutes later, Lt. David Miles, a 16-year veteran, arrived and was met in the parking lot by the man posing as a guard. The man put a gun to Miles's head and ordered him into the bank. The man shot Miles in the stomach after a brief struggle, Fox said. A second suspect then ran out of the bank and shot Miles in the cheek.
Police spokeswoman Marsha Sandler said a bulletproof vest stopped the bullet from entering Miles's abdomen.
Meanwhile, O'Connell freed himself and ran out of the bank. The two officers then chased the two suspects in a running gunbattle around the bank, Fox said. One of the suspects was shot and killed as they tried getting into a gray sedan parked in front of the bank. The other suspect was arrested. Fox refused to say which officer shot the fatal bullets.
Two robbers fled from the bank during the shootout, Fox said.
Miles was taken to Hollywood Memorial Hospital for the gunshot wound to the face, and was listed in satisfactory condition.
Bullets shattered plate-glass windows on two buildings across the street -- Rae's Place II, a fashion store, and Hair & Co., a beauty salon.
Beautician Carmen Melgar said she had just arrived for work at Hair & Co. when the shooting started.
'I ran to lock the door because I thought someone may run in,' Melgar said.
A bullet shattered the plate-glass window on the front of the salon and she crawled under a cabinet.
A few minutes later, Melgar said, she looked across the street and saw a man run from the bank's parking lot and get onto a bus heading west.
About 9:30 a.m., 11 police officers were dropped by Florida Marine Patrol helicopter onto the roof of the bank, Sandler said. The officers, all members of a Special Weapons Assault Team, searched the two-story building for about an hour and a half without finding any other suspects.
Shortly after the search, reports of an armed suspect prompted police to surround the building again, authorities said, but a second search confirmed that there were no other suspects in the building.
'They went through it with a fine tooth comb,' Fox said. 'It's not conceivable that there are any suspects in the building.' In the midst of the tension following the shootout, Dr. Bret L. Lusskin, an orthopedic surgeon across the street from the bank, rolled out his World War II-vintage Armored Utility Vehicle, which he keeps in his building's parking lot.
'I figured as soon as I pulled this out, it would be over,' Lusskin said as he sat in the driver's seat, wearing camouflage fatigues.
