A grandmother yesterday told how she was shot at on her balcony by a masked gunman thought to be targeting her son.

The woman — whose son is a West End gang member — says she escaped alive only because of the shooter's poor aim on New Year's Day at about 12.10 a.m.

She says she hid behind a pillar as the offender stood on the road aiming a gun at her from about 50 yards.

As he fumbled with the weapon, she then ran inside her Somerset home, and he fired at her before fleeing on foot.

The grandmother, who asked not to be named, spoke to The Royal Gazette yesterday to condemn the violent lifestyle which has wrecked the lives of her son and many others.

"I was on the telephone to my sister and all of a sudden I heard all this noise outside," said the woman, who was at home with her seven-year-old granddaughter and nephew who has Down's syndrome.

"I saw this man in a ski mask in the road so I ran outside. I said 'You better get away from here right now, or I'm calling 911'.

"He just looked at me. I knew he had a gun in his hand. I stood there on the balcony and I said 'You better leave'.

"Then he raised his arms and aimed his gun at me and I ran to hide behind the pillar. I was waiting for him to shoot. He pulled it back and he might have fumbled.

"I said 'I'm calling 911'. I ran in and as I ran in the shot was fired. He aimed it at me. I was flabbergasted. He was thinking outside the box now. He's now shot at a mother.

"He didn't even know how to use the gun. I guess he came to shoot it; that was his intention — so he decided to shoot it."

The woman said she assumes the gunman was out to get her 30-year-old son, who last August was nearly killed after being stabbed 12 times in the chest, head and throat in a gang-related incident.

She has pleaded with him to quit the lifestyle but feels he has also been let down by a failing system which has left many young black men trapped in the gang culture.

"My son came back after I'd been shot at, and he couldn't imagine why it happened," she said.

"I know it shook him when I told him the boy shot at me. I felt that him knowing that someone actually aimed the gun at me, that he would see the serious things we are dealing with."

She said Police took about half an hour to arrive after the incident, by which time there was no chance of catching the offender, whom she estimates was in his late 20s.

Two days later, on Sunday evening, a much heavier Police contingent invaded her home — up to 30 officers, many armed — hunting for a weapon her son was believed to be in possession of.

"My seven-year-old granddaughter was there; we had visitors in the house. Everybody was subjected to guns being pointed at them. It looked like a war zone," she said.

"They didn't find anything. I told them someone actually had a gun and shot it the other day, and you only sent a couple of officers. I was very angry."

A Police spokesman responded last night: “The Bermuda Police Service dispatched the closest available armed unit at 12.18 a.m. on Friday, January 1, specifically to attend this incident due to the nature of the report.

“The officers arrived at the residence at 12.35 a.m. While we appreciate the complainant may feel that the Police response took longer than she would have liked, the officers responded as promptly as possible under the circumstances.

“As it relates to the search of the residence, operational deployment of armed officers is done based on a risk assessment. The number of and types of arms are determined by the risk posed to the officers conducting the search.”