"All I saw looking out the window was twoindividuals on the ground, shot," O'Rourke said."The driver looked like he was shot in the back.The suspect in the back seat was already in snow,blood coming from his head."

Pasquarello said the suspects continued toexchange gunfire with the Brinks guard, even afterthey had entered the getaway vehicle. The car'sfour windows and back window were all shot out.

Bullets, apparently from the Brinks guard'sweapon, also shattered a Cambridge Trust bankwindow more than 50 feet away, and one was lodgedin the Cambridge Trust automated-teller machine,Pasquarello said.

The Bank of Boston branch was closed forseveral hours after the shooting.

The Guard and the Suspects

Law enforcement officials refused to identifythe guard, but praised his actions. "I think theguard was very heroic. He held his ground," PoliceSuperintendent Walter L. Boyle said at a pressconference yesterday afternoon.

"He obviously took the action he deemednecessary," agreed Boston FBI Special Agent PeterS. Ginieres. "It was a job well done on his part."

Seated in the Brinks armored car, the guard wasapproached by a Crimson reporter 15 minutes afterthe incident, but declined to comment.

As a crowd of more than 350 Cantabrigians andHarvard students gathered in the Square, a towtruck removed the getaway vehicle, which hadremained running for more than an hour after theshootout.

Hours later, a crowd looked on as policeremoved bits of cerebral tissue--presumably fromthe suspect shot in the head--from a pile ofunmelted snow. FBI agents then placed exhibitmarkers at the sites on the sidewalk and streetwhere blood was found.

At the press conference, Boyle said the twosuspects under arrest had been not yet beenarraigned, but would be charged with at leastarmed robbery, assault with intent to murder, andassault and battery, Boyle said.

Pasquarello declined to offer details of thesuspects' past. "We can't discuss any of theirpast arrests," the detective said. "We don't havethat kind of information, anyway."

However, Brendon Smith is reportedly on theFBI's short list of most wanted bank robbers inthe state.

A man answering the phone at Leahy's residenceat 104 Elm St. in Charlestown identified himselfas the suspect's father, but declined to discussthe details of the incident.

Police identified the getaway car as a stolenvehicle.