Two Gunmen At Large After Taking Hostages in Florida Department Store (VIDEO)

VIDEO: The Associated Press released a video of the Venice Police Department SWAT team storming the department store, and evacuating hostages. Over the footage, Police Captain Tom McNulty explains the sequence of events, and confirms that the gunmen fled the scene prior to the arrival of the SWAT team.

Captain McNulty confirmed that the incident seems to be an ill-conceived robbery.

Watch the video below.

UPDATE: The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that the gunmen were wearing Darth Vader masks.

"They kept yelling and cursing at us but they never ordered us to do anything" other than get on the ground, [a 17-year-old Venice High School senior] said during a phone interview between classes at Venice High School this morning. She said a safe at the back of the store was locked and the assailants did not ask anyone to open it.

The assailants are still at large.

Check back for the latest developments.

ORIGINAL POST: Two gunmen are still at large after taking ten people hostage in a Venice, Florida T.J. Maxx department store Tuesday night.

The Venice Police Department reports that the gunmen entered the store around closing time, at 9:30pm. The gunmen allegedly took ten employees and customers hostage, and held them for three hours, before a SWAT team entered the store and rescued the hostages after midnight.

The gunmen were no where to be found.

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the gunmen tied up employees using Ziptape. Contrary to original accounts, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is reporting Wednesday morning that the masked gunmen left the scene before police arrived. The Herald-Tribune reports:

Seven of the hostages eventually left the store unharmed, but the final hostage -- a 16-year-old girl who had been hiding from the gunmen -- was injured and dragged out of the store on a blanket and placed on a gurney after a SWAT team stormed the building. She was hurt when she was shoved to the ground at some point, but was not seriously injured.

By 2:30am the Venice K-9 unit had cleared the building of hostages, with no sign of the hostage-takers.

The police department has yet to release descriptions of the two gunmen on the loose. Fox News reports that, "A manager for the store said that, at most, $12,000 cash could be on hand."

It is unclear what prompted the standoff.