MANILA, Philippines?Wearing bonnets and the black uniforms of bomb squad agents, six men got off a van near the Greenbelt 5 basement parking area and hurried up the stairs, telling a guard that they were checking a call about a bomb in the building.

One of the men was later found to be carrying a grenade launcher.

In a brazen noon-hour robbery Sunday at the classiest of the Greenbelt malls in Makati City, gunfire rang out, one of the six intruders fell dead, mall workers dove for cover, and shoppers scampered to a nearby chapel to pray the rosary.

?This was very daring, as if they were challenging us,? Chief Insp. Dennis Macalintal, head of the Makati police investigation unit, told reporters after the attack on the Rolex luxury watch store on the mall?s ground floor.

The other five robbers escaped in a Toyota Corolla and a Honda City after a blazing shoot-out with two police escorts of Taguig Mayor Freddie Tiñga?who were then having lunch with Tiñga at the mall?and with the Greenbelt guards, police said.

Before the shooting erupted, an unidentified employee at a shop near Rolex said she saw the armed men ?hammering the show cases [at Rolex] to get the watches.?

The dead suspected robber lay face down in the Rolex store entrance, its glass windows shattered. The grenade launcher and a .45 cal. pistol lay near him.

The other robbers were armed with Armalite rifles, police said.

Shoppers stuck inside

More than 50 slugs of M-16 rifles were found by investigators at the crime scene.

Shoppers were stuck inside the Greenbelt malls for more than an hour as security guards locked down the entrances and exits. Vehicles in the parking areas were not allowed to leave.

An inventory was still being conducted at press time to determine if the armed men were able to get away with some of the watches, which cost anywhere from P300,000 to more than a million each, police said.

Inquirer reporters pieced together the story of how the robbery began from interviews with mall employees, shoppers, policemen and bystanders.

Opened in 2007, Greenbelt 5 is said to be the ritziest wing of the Greenbelt shopping mall complex that hosts a number of international fashion luxury brands, such as Balenciaga, Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole, Zara and Escada Sport, as well as fine dining restaurants, such as Lusso, Kai, Zuni, Myron?s and Chateau.

Hiding inside chapel

Upon hearing the successive gunshots, about 50 terrified shoppers ran for cover in a chapel, where several people were praying the rosary.

?Some of the shoppers were shouting. We didn?t know what was happening until we saw one of the watchmen drop to the ground and crawl to safety,? said Ricky Udtohan, 56, who was selling religious items outside the chapel.

Udtohan said he also stayed inside the chapel until he saw policemen arrive 30 minutes later.

?The people who sought refuge inside the chapel joined in praying the rosary. All of us were frightened ? we did not stop praying,? he said.

Guards overpowered

Despite the gunfire, the scheduled noon Mass at the chapel proceeded, with some 700 people in attendance.

?The chapel was filled with people after the shoot-out,? a security personnel said.

The shoot-out occurred a day before the second anniversary of a deadly gas explosion that rocked Glorietta 2 in 2007. That gas explosion killed 11 people and injured over 100 others.

In a statement, the Ayala group which owns and operates the shopping complex said six men posing as bomb squad agents broke into the mall at around 11:40 a.m. and overpowered the guards in an attempt to rob the Rolex watch retail shop.

?The mall guards resisted and as other guards from the mall responded, the robbers started to flee,? the Ayala statement said.

One bystander was ?slightly injured? and is now in the hospital for treatment, the statement said, adding that there were no other casualties.

Operations at the shopping mall were suspended to pave the way for the police investigation but it reopened at 6 p.m. Sunday.

?Ayala Mall officials assure the public that security measures continue to be in place for the safety of customers,? the statement said.

Police later recovered the two getaway vehicles, without plate numbers, in Magallanes Village.

The robbery was the latest heist involving heavily armed men wearing either police or military uniforms.

?This is not the first time that criminals have used police and military uniforms in their operation. But so far the proper authorities have not taken steps to restrict their sale and use,? Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay said in a statement.

One of the guards at the mall complex said he saw at least ?seven? heavily armed men in black uniform alight from a van near the entrance to the basement parking area, just a few meters from the stairs going to the luxury watch shop.

?They all looked like policemen. They got off their vehicle very quickly and headed for the stairs,? watchman Jomil dela Cruz said.

Bomb scare

Dela Cruz said one man carrying a long firearm told a guard stationed near the stairs that they were responding to a ?bomb scare? at Greenbelt 2.

?They even instructed my fellow security guard to step aside as they were responding to an emergency call,? he said.

Dela Cruz said his colleague immediately informed their supervisor by radio about the presence of the armed men.

A few minutes later, he said he heard successive gunshots from inside the mall.

Another guard, Danilo Santosan, said he heard two men in civilian clothes accost the armed men as they entered the mall.

?Are you policemen?? Santosan said he heard one of the two men in civilian clothes ask the men in black uniform.

?Fortunately, those two men were able to fire their pistols before the robbers could shoot them,? he added.

Tiñga?s bodyguards

The men in civilian clothes turned out to be close-in security aides of Mayor Tiñga.

As they fled, the robbers fired at mall guards and at a group of shoppers on the second floor of Greenbelt 3, according to Dela Cruz.

Based on Chief Inspector Macalintal?s account, the robbers pointed their guns at security guard Rocky Paningbatan, who was posted at the Greenbelt 5 main entrance, and dragged him to the Rolex store.

He said the two Taguig policemen?identified as PO1 Efren Ceniza Jr. and SPO1 Cesar Tiglao?saw the gunmen smashing the store windows on the second floor.

A shoot-out then ensued. The two policemen were only armed with .45 cal. pistols, police said.

?We were having lunch outside, not far from where the robbery took place,? Tiñga told the Inquirer. ?From what I saw, my two police escorts were ready to lay down their lives. Other people might have just walked away but they fought it out.?

Macalintal said mall guards also helped repulse the armed men.