— Two armed men burst into a Rocky Mount home recently and forced the woman inside to take them to the T.J. Maxx store where she works so they could steal merchandise.

The 60-year-old woman said Monday that she's not ready to speak publicly about the ordeal, noting that she and her husband plan to receive counseling for the trauma and stress induced by the home invasion and kidnapping.

She said the two men broke into her home on Bethlehem Road in the middle of the night on Dec. 13. They beat her husband before forcing her at gunpoint to go to the T.J. Maxx at 1480 Jeffreys Road. She said she was supposed to open the store the following morning, so she had the keys and alarm codes needed to get inside undetected.

The woman was left at the store, where she called police.

Rocky Mount police couldn't be reached for comment Monday, but a police incident report indicates $8,200 was stolen from the home, and the thieves also stole the couple's 2009 Saturn Vue, which was later recovered.

The incident report has no details of what was taken from T.J. Maxx.

"I heard when I got up that there had been a break in across from us," neighbor John Check said. "That's pretty close to our house. That's a little scary."

Check said his own family experienced a home invasion years ago, and it's something difficult to forget.

"There are times after almost 40 years – 35 years – I'll turn a corner somewhere [and] I'll have that flashback of my wife standing on the front porch screaming," he said.

Neighbors said it sounds like a targeted attack, and they're hoping the thieves are caught quickly.

"I hope they get the book thrown at them because this family will live with the trauma of that forever," Check said.