"These people were here for one reason and onereason only--that was to harm somebody,"Pasquarello said.

The wounded suspects, taken to Beth IsraelHospital, were identified as Keith Leahy andBrendon Smith, two white males, both believed tobe around 27 years old and from Charlestown.

Leahy, who was shot in the back, was in stablecondition last night, according to Beth Israelspokesperson Milica Kokotovic.

Hospital spokesperson Anthony Lloyd toldreporters yesterday afternoon that Smith had beenin the neurosurgery operating room since 1:30 p.m.He left the operating room at 11 p.m. and is incritical condition, said hospital spokespersonDebbie Smith.

Police refused to disclose any informationabout the guard or how many shots he fired.

Eyewitnesses gave several accounts of theshootout. Sidney D. Weinberg, a Brooklineresident, was making a withdrawal from anautomated teller machine in the Bank of Bostonwhen the shootout occurred. He said the two menattacked the Brinks guard in the external bankfoyer and threw him to the ground.

"He accosted [the guard] immediately at thedoor of the vestibule, and pushed him inside, witha gun to the armed-guard's head," Weinberg said.

"The assailant had one or two bags [which] heran out with," Weinberg added. "He left four orfive on the cart. I think he was debating what hewas going to do and decided not to shoot theguard."

By only hitting the guard in the head, notshooting him, the suspects may have sealed theirown fate, Weinberg said.

"I saw the two guys taking off, trying to getinto the car," said Cambridge resident RogerArcher, an eyewitness. "But they dropped the moneyand then the guard started unloading shots, aboutsix of them. It was just boom, boom, boom--theshots were flying."

Police said they did not know whether thesuspects or the guard fired first, but Mike Culisof Woburn, an eyewitness, said "the guard didn'tfire until he was fired upon."

"All I saw was the Brinks guy with his gun,ducking and shooting," said Chris Mackin ofOwnership Associates, a consulting firm on DunsterSt. "The person who looked like he was shot deadwas wearing a fake beard and mustache. But thedriver, he was clearly alert, you could see hiseyes."

The robbers wore "fake hair, mustaches andeyeglasses," said M.J. White of Orleans, aneyewitness. "The guard yelled `Stop, robbery!Stop, robbery!' People were running back andforth. One of the guys was face down andtwitching. There could have been a third one whoditched his disguise."

"The security guard had two pistols," Whitecontinued. "He unloaded one pistol and thenunloaded another."

Tim O'Rourke, a Harvard courier, watched theshootout from a third-floor window in HolyokeCenter.