SAN FRANCISCO --

A man shot and killed by San Francisco police Tuesday evening was a robber who became known as the "Gen X bandit" because of his distinctive attire while holding up two banks in Orange County, authorities said Wednesday.

Joshua Camden Smith, 25, was shot dead near Buena Vista Park when he allegedly tried to run over officers with a stolen BMW, authorities said.

The Southern California bank robber was suspected of stealing the car, and the FBI had tracked it to the Bay Area using the vehicle's GPS unit and alerted local police.

Lt. Troy Dangerfield, a spokesman for the Police Department, said plainclothes officers had found the BMW on the unit block of Buena Vista Avenue East, between Haight Street and Duboce Avenue. They were conducting surveillance at about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday when they saw Smith get into the car, police said.

Smith, who was from Orange County, was shot when he drove threateningly toward the officers, authorities said. He died at San Francisco General Hospital.

His driver's license photo resembles the man shown in surveillance-camera pictures of the Irvine bank robberies. Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said Wednesday that Smith was suspected in the holdups.

The FBI called the bank robber the "Gen X bandit" because of the plaid shirt and stocking cap he wore when holding up a Chase Bank and Comerica Bank within a half hour of each other May 17.

The robber was seen driving a stolen BMW with paper license plates. Orange County sheriff's deputies spotted a BMW that matched the description on three occasions - about a half hour after the robberies and twice on May 18 - but each time, the man sped away, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

The names of the San Francisco officers who shot Smith were not released. They are on paid administrative leave pending investigations into the shooting.

Under department policy, police can fire at a suspect in a moving vehicle if the driver "is threatening the officer with imminent danger of death or seriously bodily injury," and the officer has no chance to get out of the way.

"Officers never lose the right to defend themselves when they feel their lives are in danger," said Dangerfield, speaking generally. "If the vehicle is used as a weapon and officers fear for their safety, they can shoot."

Chronicle staff writer Justin Berton contributed to this report.