— A retired Chapel Hill couple was attacked and beaten during a home invasion early Friday, and Orange County authorities were searching for two men in connection with the incident.

The couple was rushed to UNC Hospitals, although their conditions were not immediately available, authorities said.

Property records and neighbors identified the couple as Rebecca and David Laudicina.

Orange County deputies were called to a home at 5333 block of Lucas Farm Lane shortly after 2 a.m.

When they arrived, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the hand. His wife had been beaten during the incident, authorities said.

Investigators said the man was awakened by his wife screaming while she was being attacked by two intruders. The man was attacked when he tried to help her.

Authorities said his wife was assaulted during the incident.

The intruders got into the home through a back door, and the couple told investigators that one man carried a backpack and the other had a handgun.

Deputies said the two men demanded money from the couple, but they don't believe anything was taken from the home.

Neighbors were shaken by the overnight attack.

"We've always been a really safe neighborhood, and we never would have expected this," Michael Khoury said. "[They're] wonderful people. We're just heartbroken. Hopefully, they're going to be OK. What I've heard so far is they're obviously injured, but doing OK."

A man returned to the Laudicina home Friday afternoon with a bloodied face and an arm in a sling.

Neighbors are banding together to support the couple and make sure they'll feel safe at home once again.

"I think we, as neighbors, obviously want it to be a safe neighborhood again. So we'll do everything we can to come together as a neighborhood and try and protect each other," Khoury said. "I hope they'll be able to come back and feel safe in their home and neighborhood again."

No descriptions of the two intruders have been released, but authorities have offered a $2,500 reward for information that leads to their arrests and conviction.

"Home invasions are terrifying for the victims, as well as for the community in general, because they threaten our sense of safety in our own residences," Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in a statement. "For this reason, it is especially important that we identify and arrest the suspects who committed this crime."

Anyone with information was asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 919-245-2900.