A five-year-old girl and her grandmother, 52, are nursing gunshot wounds after a man opened fire on them while they were sleeping early Sunday morning.

According to Savitri Hassan, who received injuries to her lower abdomen, her husband and their five-year-old granddaughter were asleep on a mattress on the ground in their three-bedroom, one-flat Lot 122 Section B, Number 72 Village home, when they were awakened by a loud explosion.

On opening her eyes, she noticed someone standing by the doorway.

“My husband jump up and see he run out while my granddaughter was crying and screaming. I thought she was scared, but it was until we put on the light then we noticed she was bleeding from her foot; then we know she got shot.”

The family called upon their neighbours who rushed the injured to the Skeldon Hospital where they were treated and sent away.

Fifteen pellets were removed from the Number 72 Village Nursery School pupil, while five were removed from Savitri.

The injured is expected to return to the hospital today to have x-rays and other follow up tests.

The Hassans’ home is under re-construction after it was destroyed by fire in 2014.

A section of the ceiling is still opened and there the suspect reportedly gained entry, after mounting a ladder on the roof of the house.

The shooter has been identified as “Acko” and “Rasta”.

Savitri explained that the target was her husband, Rajkumar Hassan, whom the suspect had threatened on numerous occasions to “end him and his family” after they reported him to the police on two other occasions for abusive behaviour.

According to Rajkumar, the suspect lives behind his house and has livestock that would enter his yard.

On one occasion while he was mending a hole in the fence to prevent them from escaping, the suspect accused him of interfering with his wife and verbally abused him, making threats to his life and that of his family.

The matter was reported to the Springlands Police Station and when the neighbourhood police showed up to apprehend the suspect, he refused to comply and they left after he became abusive.

Another report was made on October 23, when the suspect jumped into the Hassans’ yard and set their clothes on fire. According to the Hassans, the police came again to arrest the suspect but he was nowhere to be found.

The police asked that they be notified whenever he shows up. This, the family said, was done and a senior rank at the station promised to send a patrol to get the abuser arrested, but no one ever came.

Police are looking for the suspect who has since gone into hiding.