Trio held at gunpoint during armed home invasion in Athens

It was a terrifying ordeal for an Athens household who were held at gunpoint by a trio of home invaders.

Athens-Clarke County Police said the woman, her boyfriend, and their friend are innocent victims who were robbed early Tuesday morning. One of the victims, who did not want to have her name used, said it was a violent intrusion by three men wearing red bandanas just after midnight. She said they bashed the back French door windows open with an ashtray then entered with guns drawn.

"He told me to ‘get the F--- down, get the F--- down, shut the F--- up.’ Put me down on the floor and then jumped in on my boyfriend and my friend in the living room and told them to get down in the hallway they had put me in," she said.

The victim also said while one armed intruder held her and the others on the floor the two others ransacked the home. She said after rifling through the upstairs bedrooms and other rooms, the two men walked back downstairs and left with the third man along with her purse, wallets, cash, some of her prescription painkillers, cell phones and more.

Athens Clarke County Police said they don't know why or if the townhome, among many others, was targeted.

Epifanio Rodriguez, spokesman for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department said there is no indication the trio of armed intruders has committed other home invasions in the Athens area, but want them caught before they strike again.

"If they've done it once, they are capable of doing it again. And if they are armed there's always capable of someone getting hurt, an innocent victim getting hurt and we, of course, want to catch them before anything like that happens," said Rodriguez.

The victim, a woman in her twenties, said the scary episode was an eye-opener.

"I guess what this says about life, is just, hold on to your family, hold on to what you got because it can be gone in a heartbeat. It's so real now. It's so real," she said.

Police said they did not get a description of any kind of a getaway car.