Two masked robbers held up a St. Paul bank before dawn Monday, locking up employees in a room next to the vault before fleeing with cash and then setting their pickup truck on fire and jumping into an SUV, authorities said.

The suspects struck the TCF Bank at 2163 Ford Parkway at 6:45 a.m., approaching two employees who were opening for the day and demanding to be let in, according to the FBI.

The duo forced the employees to give them access to the vault, collected an undisclosed amount of cash and then "locked the employees in a room adjacent to the vault," a statement from the FBI read.

The robbers fled in a pickup truck, which was found torched less than a quarter-mile to the west near Ford Parkway and Mount Curve Boulevard, the agency added.

From there, the suspects got in an SUV and fled east on Ford Parkway, the FBI said.

The employees were subsequently freed from the locked room, said FBI spokesman Kyle Loven.

Loven added that the robbers did not display any weapons.

The FBI did not have a detailed description of the robbers. Anyone with any information about the crime is urged to call the FBI at 763-569-8000 or the St. Paul Police Department at 651-266-5650. There is a reward being offered in this case.

Last week, a U.S. Bank at 1071 Grand Avenue in St. Paul was held up by a single robber, and there has been no arrest in that case. Loven said investigators "are reviewing previous robberies to determine if there are any similarities."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482