beat three bank security guards and made off with bags of cash.

And last night a Police manhunt for a third suspect was ongoing following the arrests of two men earlier in the day.

Two masked men entered the Bank of Butterfield's Somerset branch through a side door at about 10.15 a.m. -- just as bank security officers were making a cash delivery, said Ch. Insp. Carlton Adams.

Ch. Insp. Adams -- who is heading the investigation -- said the masked men were armed with firearms and assaulted the two security guards making the delivery plus a third guard who was on duty at the bank.

A Police spokeswoman said a shot was fired during the course of the robbery but this was later denied by Ch. Insp. Adams.

He said the men did not discharge their guns but used them to pistol-whipsecurity guard Clayton Simmons before leaving with an undisclosed amount of money, which The Royal Gazette understands was "in the five figures''. Part of the sum was later recovered.

The pair's bike would not start when they left the bank and they were forced to flee on foot along East Shore Road.

A man was later nabbed in the water off Sound View Road while a second was caught elsewhere in Somerset after a joint effort by the Police's Emergency Response Team, Marine Unit, Cycle Squad, K-9 Section and uniformed and plain clothed officers.

What is understood to be one of the firearms used during the incident has also been recovered.

One man arrested in connection with the incident is a 24-year-old Somerset man understood to be Reid Jones.

A Police spokeswoman later revealed that the search had been expanded and a third man was being hunted in connection with the incident.

It was not known last night if the men arrested yesterday had been charged in connection with the robbery.

The armed robbery was the second in Somerset in three months. On April 9, the Bank of Bermuda's branch was robbed. Three men have been charged in connection with that robbery but have yet to go to trial.

A bank customer, who asked to remain nameless, said she was waiting in line in the bank when she saw a security guard heading to the back of the building.

Another customer said there was a robbery in the bank's savings department, she continued, and people began screaming and running for the door. She said she saw two men wearing masks and waving guns around but did not hear any gunshots.

Massive Somerset manhunt Upon leaving the bank, the woman said she went to a nearby shop and told the staff to call the Police.

The woman added that from now on she would be extra careful in banks.

"I will be looking around whenever I enter a bank. I would not feel comfortable going into that bank,'' she said.

Senator Lawrence Scott was in the bank's car park as the two men left the bank.

He said he was on his way to his car which was parked behind the bank when a man in a heavy jacket came out of the building and got on a bike.

Sen. Scott said he thought it was strange that the man was wearing the jacket but did not think about it further.

As the man tried to start his bike, a second man came out of the side door of the bank brandishing a handgun.

Sen. Scott said he ducked behind his car at this point and watched as the two men tried to get the bike started before throwing it on the ground.

They then fled through the parking lot and onto East Shore Road.

Employees in stores nearby were unaware of what had happened until people began running out of the bank.

A salesperson at shoe shop W.J. Boyle next door to the bank said she was busy with customers when a bank clerk ran into the store and told her to call 911.

She said after she made the call she went outside and saw security guard Mr.

Simmons walking around covered in blood.

Sen. Scott said Mr. Simmons had accosted the gun-wielding bandits as they tried to rob his colleagues.

Mr. Simmons, 64, received a gash on the back of his head and a cut on his cheek.

Witnesses at the scene said this did not stop him as he tried to chase after the robbers as they fled -- leaving a trail of blood along the sidewalk.

A clerk at Somerset Pharmacy said she did not know anything was happening at the nearby bank until Mr. Simmons -- the brother of former Bermuda Industrial Union president Ottiwell Simmons -- came charging past the store window covered in blood.

He was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital along with the other two guards -- 40-year-old Randolph Spencer and John Gilbert, 35, -- by ambulance.

The trio were later released.

None of the other people who were in the bank at the time of the incident were injured, reported Ch. Insp. Adams.

Meanwhile Police had set up a road block at Somerset Bridge and were searching all vehicles -- including a garbage truck -- as they headed out of Somerset.

But it was at Sound View Road that Police apprehended the first man.

Sen. Scott said he was on his way to Hamilton after the robbery and was stopped by a lady who lived at Gwelly Lane.

She said she had seen a man climbing out of the water and had called the Police.

The man was caught after he tried to swim away but eventually returned to land. He was taken into custody.

The hunt for the other suspects continued and Police later arrested a 20-year-old man in the Somerset area.

The search had been expanded by this time. At around 3.30 p.m., Police officers from various units descended upon a derelict house called Harbour View on Scott's Hill Road.

As uniformed officers spread out around the area, the armed and bulletproof vest-clad ERT entered the house and searched it.

Following the house search, officers searched the surrounding area until around 5.30 p.m.

Inspector Randolph Liverpool said the area was searched because it was believed a suspect had come through it.FALLEN STEED -- The would-be getaway vehicle of two men who robbed the Bank of Butterfield's Somerset branch lies in the bank parking lot. The robbers abandoned the bike and fled on foot after