A security guard who shot and killed a masked bandit during a bungled robbery attempt at a Sydney bank was acting in self-defence, police say.
Police are yet to confirm the dead man's identity, but media outlets have named him as Khaled Dib, 25, from Auburn.
He was shot during an attempt to hold up an Armaguard van delivering cash to a National Australia Bank at Parramatta.
Police say the armoured truck stopped outside the George Street branch around 6.20 last night and two guards went inside.
Almost immediately, two masked men, both armed with handguns, jumped out of a nearby Mitsubishi Lancer and followed the guards into the bank.
Detective Superintendent Peter Cotter said a security guard fired one shot inside the bank, which apparently caused the bandits to flee.
"The two offenders then ran back from the bank and ... towards their getaway car," Supt Cotter told reporters in Parramatta today.
"En route, one of the men ran towards the third security guard who was positioned across the road, adjacent to the getaway car, and raised his firearm at the guard, and the guard in self-defence fired one shot.
"We strongly believe the shot from that guard's gun hit the person in the chest region and flowing from that the offender dropped his gun."
A short time later Dib was taken to Auburn Hospital by a relative.
"He was dead upon arrival," Supt Cotter said.
"An autopsy this morning has revealed that the cause of death for this man was a gunshot wound to the chest."
No one has been charged over the shooting.
Supt Cotter said security guards had the power to "match force with force" if facing a "grave threat of being killed or seriously injured".
"All the preliminary advice to me ... would place the fact that self-defence was certainly an option," he said.
A large group of Dib's family and friends became violent after they gathered in mourning outside Auburn Hospital last night.
Police used dogs to move the group on after they reportedly stormed the hospital in an attempt to retrieve Dib's body.
"I believe there was some emotion running high at Auburn Hospital, predominantly from relatives and friends, and I think that can certainly be understood - there was a lot of confusion last night and possibly a lot of misinformation," Supt Cotter said.
Police said Dib was not a "target" of their 18-month investigation into cash-in-transit robberies, named Strike Force Brittania.
