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3 In Custody, 2 Still Sought In Deadly Wal-Mart Shooting

UPDATE from KIRO 7's Jeff Dubois at 8:35 a.m.:
We are heading to a neighborhood just west of the Tacoma Mall. Homicide detectives are on scene. This may be a house related to the two arrests made overnight.


LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- Police have arrested three people in the investigation of the fatal shooting of an armored car guard at a Wal-Mart store, but the two robbers are still on the loose, Lakewood police said.

Police provided few details, but said two people were arrested Tuesday night and a third Wednesday morning. The three who are in custody played a role in the robbery and shooting and are not the two men seen in surveillance video as they left the store on Tuesday.

Officers from multiple police agencies and the FBI are hunting for two men in their 20s in the fatal shooting of the guard and the wounding of a bystander during the robbery.

RAW VIDEO: Wal-Mart Evacuated After Fatal Heist
SLIDESHOW: Armored Car Guard Robbed, Shot In Lakewood Wal-Mart

One shot was fired, hitting the guard in the head and hitting the shoulder of a man holding a child, Lakewood police Lt. Heidi Hoffman said earlier. The man holding the child suffered injuries that are not life-threatening, she said.

Hoffman said the shooting took place outside a branch of Anchor Bank located inside the Wal-Mart at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. The guard was shot as he was leaving the bank with a money bag.

While the two robbers escaped with a money bag, it was not known whether it contained any cash, Hoffman said.

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Police released these surveillance camera images of the two men they said robbed an armored car guard, fatally shooting him.

Police released store surveillance cameras images showing the two men, who were seen driving away in a 4-door, 1993 white Buick Skylark. The vehicle was found shortly before 4 p.m. at South Monroe Street and South 67th Street in Tacoma. The vehicle has been reported stolen since late April.

Neighbors told KIRO 7 reporter Gary Horcher that they’ve never seen that car before and they believe the gunmen randomly parked the car in Tacoma. Police used a K-9 unit to track the gunmen, but did not locate them Tuesday.

Police towed the car from the scene by 5:30 p.m. and will process it for evidence.

Pat Flaherty, a spokesman for Houston-based Loomis armored cars, told The Associated Press the man who died was 39-year-old Kurt Husted, a 16-year veteran of the company. Police said a bag was taken from the guard, but Flaherty said it was not immediately known whether the bag contained any money.

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Kurt Husted

McCarty, sending e-mail from the scene, said customers who were inside the Wal-Mart at the time of the robbery heard a loud bang.

"One woman says she saw an eyewitness to the shooting who ran into the store crying," wrote McCarty in a message sent from his Blackberry. "She tried to help her and guided her to police who are taking her statement right now."

"Police have assembled witnesses at the south side of the store, just outside. They are trying to talk to as many as possible," McCarty wrote.

Police evacuated the Wal-Mart, the parking lots outside and eventually closed the store as police processed the crime scene.

Chopper 7 showed police and medic units at the Wal-Mart, as well as a crowd of people in the parking lot, many pushing carts. Chopper also spotted a Loomis armored car in the parking lot. Customers left the Wal-Mart parking lot with police checking each car as it left.

Anyone with information on the pictured gunmen should call 911

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