Widmaier

PHILADELPHIA — Two armored car guards were shot and killed by a robber as they removed deposits from a bank ATM in a brazen daylight heist Thursday, setting off a sweeping search for the killer that shut down a nearby mall and several schools.

The gunman remained at large early today, and after hours of searching, authorities had few leads and only a sketchy description. Police said he approached the guards and fired without saying a word.

"He just came out initially and just assassinated them, that fast," police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

The robber approached the car from behind shortly after 8 a.m., shot one guard in the chest, then went around the vehicle and shot the second guard as he tried to unholster his gun, police said.

Johnson said neither the victims nor a third guard who was injured fired a shot.

"There was no physical contact at all. There was just firing; it was an assassination," Johnson said.

The gunman fired at the cab of the Loomis armored car before fleeing in a black Acura TL sedan, police said.

Johnson said surveillance tape from the Wachovia bank's security camera and another northeast Philadelphia business showed the robber getting out of his car and putting on gloves before killing William Widmaier, 65, and Joseph Alullo, 54.

Widmaier, a Philadelphia police officer from 1966 to 1989, and Alullo, who served on the police force from 1973 to 2000, were assigned to the same district, where they became friends, Johnson said.

Widmaier was shot once in the chest, and Alullo was shot three times in the chest and abdomen, police said.

The third guard was grazed by shattered glass as the robber tried to shoot through the armored car, Loomis spokesman Mark Clark said. That guard was treated at a hospital for lacerations and released, a spokeswoman said. Authorities said he was 69 but did not release his name.

All three Loomis guards were armed, Clark said. The injured guard radioed for help after his co-workers were shot, the company said.

Widmaier, married with adult children, was the union shop steward for the Pennsauken, N.J., based division of Loomis, where the men worked. Alullo was married with three daughters, Loomis said in a news release.