The violence in a brazen armed bank robbery in Ottawa’s west-end, this morning, has Ottawa police looking at similar acts in other cities.

“We haven't seen one of these in Ottawa for quite some time,” says S-Sgt. Michael Haarbosch of the Ottawa Police Robbery Unit.

"There have been some instances elsewhere in the GTA and elsewhere in the country earlier this year and that's something we're exploring,” he adds.

Two men forced their way into the TD Canada Trust in the 5000 block of Hazeldean Road. Police say one was armed with a gun.

“We had two suspects force their way into the branch at about 7:30 in the morning and surprised some employees that were already inside the branch,” says Haarbosch.

Police say the two men fled with an undisclosed amount of money. A third suspect may have also been waiting outside in a getaway vehicle.

That vehicle was later located near the branch and was also confirmed stolen.

There have been 23 bank robberies in Ottawa, this year.

TD Canada Trust released this statement:

“We’re thankful that our employees who were on site at the time were physically unharmed, and we are providing them with support and counseling. We continue to cooperate with authorities through their investigation and for security reasons are not able to provide further details.”

Employees at the Kiddie Kobbler across the street say the level of violence is shocking.

“It's getting scary out there. It's getting more and more violent,” says Shannon Graham.

Police have released this description of the suspects:

1-      Male, dark complexion, 30 years old, 250-300 lbs, wearing a "hoodie" over his head and a scarf around his nose and mouth, sunglasses, dark coloured pants and jacket, dark running shoes

2-      Caucasian male, wearing a grey "hoodie" sweater with hood over his head, scarf covering the lower portion of his face,  sunglasses, gloves, grey pants and white shoes

Anyone with information with respect to this robbery is asked to contact the Robbery Unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5116 or Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS) or toll free at 1-800-222-8477.

With a report from CTV’s John Hua