Police are now suggesting a home invasion in Dartmouth on Saturday night was not random and may have been a targeted act, but they won't say what the attackers were after.

A couple living on Glen Manor Drive answered a knock on the door at about 10 p.m. to find three masked men, one brandishing a gun.

The man and woman were then tied up. Police said the masked men took several items from the home and left.

It all happened in a residential area, near the Mic Mac Mall.

"It's really frightening," said neighbour Cathi Stevenson. "It's absolutely unbelievable that somebody with a gun would be on a busy street and it wasn't that late."

"I'm very glad I have my dogs, because they are very large dogs and they usually let me know if anybody is around that shouldn't be."

No one has been arrested yet.