OLATHE, Kansas (CNN) -- Two women who took several employees hostage during a botched bank robbery near Kansas City released one of their captives late Friday as federal and local authorities sought an end to the situation.

The hostage was released about four hours into the standoff. FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said between three and five hostages remained in the bank, and investigators were negotiating with the hostage-takers in an attempt to secure their release.

"Right now, what we are dealing with is a hostage negotiation situation," Olathe Police Lt. Larry Griffin said.

Officers responded to a holdup alarm at the bank just around 5 p.m. (6 p.m. EST) and soon learned "that the people inside the bank had been taken hostage," Griffin said.

Police and FBI agents have since sealed off the area around the bank. Police Lt. Steve Pruitt said nobody had been injured so far.

Lanza said at least one of the suspected bank robbers was armed.

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