Last week’s story about three men accused of holding two Franklin women hostage and threatening to kill them was — to say the least — unnerving.

This is Franklin, Va. A community of 8,000, where many work hard to enjoy the small-town life and all its benefits.

Police say this incident involved an alleged gang murder-for-hire plot, narcotics trafficking and interstate firearms smuggling. That’s not something the people of Franklin signed up for.

According to Franklin police, the unidentified women, who are in their 20s, returned to their apartment in the Meadowridge complex on North College Drive early Wednesday morning and were accosted by three armed intruders. The suspects allegedly held the females over the course of the night threatening to kill them.

Police declined to say why the women were targeted, citing the ongoing investigation.

Two of the suspects left in the morning, leaving one suspect behind. One of the women was able to notify police in the early afternoon Wednesday.

Police detectives responded to the residence and arrested purported gang member Luis Manuel Nunez, 28, without incident. Police also arrested David Olonzo-Marcus Powell, 23.

Both are from Virginia Beach, and, according to police, are known gang members associated with the Latin Kings and the Nine-Trey Gangster Bloods.

Police searched the women’s apartment and seized a .380-caliber pistol. The murder-for-hire threat was verified as credible against not only the two women in the apartment, but their families as well.

We’re sure there’s more to the story that police do not want to share because of their ongoing investigation. But, it certainly is disturbing.