ROBBERS GET CASH IN CREDIT UNION HEIST.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Three men armed with semiautomatic pistols stormed a credit union office before it opened Tuesday morning, demanding money from cashiers before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash, officials said.

The gunmen entered the Edwards Federal Credit Union office in the 44200 block of 10th Street West as an employee was going in the door before the office opened for business, authorities said.

``They were all very violent and used profanity and such,'' said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley. ``As of now, though, the descriptions we have aren't really that good.''

Authorities said employees described the men only as being light-skinned and in their 20s, all wearing black clothing. They apparently fled in a vehicle, but none of the witnesses saw it.

Investigators searched the area around the bank but could not locate any of the three suspects.

Tuesday's robbery was the second Lancaster bank holdup in less than two weeks.

The Bank of America branch in the 1000 block of West Avenue K was robbed just before closing time Nov. 13 by two men, who had an accomplice waiting in a stolen getaway car.

After that holdup, authorities found a toy gun in the abandoned Oldsmobile Cutlass, which had been stolen, along with some cash marked by a red dye packet that exploded in the stolen money, but they could not locate the robbers.

FBI officials would not speculate on whether the two robberies were connected, but the vague descriptions in both cases are similar. The Nov. 13 robbers were described as light-skinned men in their 20s.

Anyone with information on either holdup is asked to call the Lancaster sheriff's station at [phone].