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When three men forced their way into a Madison home in the early hours of Feb. 23, they thought they had arrived at a house they and two others had targeted for an armed robbery, police said.

Although the men soon realized they had broken into the wrong home, they went ahead with what authorities described as a violent, random attack in which they sexually assaulted a pregnant woman and badly beat both her and her husband.

Six people have been arrested for their roles in the North Side home invasion, which officials said was among the most brutal attacks they have investigated.

“In my 27-plus years of policing in Madison, this is probably one of the most disturbing and heinous crimes I have ever seen,” interim Madison police Chief Randy Gaber said.

Officials released few details about the victims of the robbery beyond that they are a man and a woman in their 30s.

They were asleep in their home a couple blocks off East Washington Avenue in the Carpenter-Ridgeway neighborhood around 4 a.m. the morning of the robbery when the men — Kristopher Hughes, Michon Thomas and Eric Bass — broke in, Det. Lt. Joey Skenandore said.