A 54-year-old guard, Gregory J. Boyle, was shot in the chest during a brazen robbery attempt at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel Saturday. The guard is expected to survive, and a suspect was arrested on charges including attempted murder and assault.

The man who was robbing the store began smashing display cases with the butt of his gun, police said. As the store security guard, a retired police detective, tackled the gunman, shots rang out, striking the guard and sending panicked hotel guests scattering for cover. The guard was hospitalized in stable condition, and a suspect was in custody, police said.

The guard, a retired police detective, confronted the robber. Gunshots rang out as they wrestled and fell to the floor, the official said. Both were armed. One bullet hit the guard in the upper chest. Another hotel employee then tackled the robber, the police official said. The robber's gun went off again as they grappled, but that bullet apparently struck no one. Hotel security arrived and took the suspect into custody.

According to witnesses, a man dressed in black entered the store at about 2:30 p.m. and announced a robbery. Boyle grabbed the gunman, pulling out his own weapon, and struggled with him before being hit.

Jeff Johnstone, a visitor from Raleigh, N.C., said he saw people heading into the bar and trying to hide behind chairs. "Everybody just started running and I'm like, 'What's going on?'" he told the New York Post. "I just ran behind a column, just like everybody else."