A former gang couple have called for the gun war across Auckland city to stop -and stop now - after their grandchildren's bedrooms were riddled with bullet holes in an early-morning shooting.
The house on Mirage Place, Beach Haven was targeted just after 5am today.
The woman spoke to the Herald at 7.30am - still upset and trying to get her head around the "horrible" incident.
"I am a bit shaken up at the moment," the woman said.
Rising tension between the Tribesmen gang and its former feeder gang the Killer Beez has been linked to a number of shootings across the city - with seven shooting incidents reported on one night.
The Beach Haven woman said while the gangs clearly knew who she and her husband were and where they lived, she did not want her name published to protect her grandchildren and wider family.
She said that when he was younger her husband was a Tribesmen gang member.
However, for many years he has been inactive - due to health and a family tragedy.
He developed a serious heart condition, underwent a triple bypass and "nearly died".
The couple's daughter then died of cervical cancer and they took on their four grandchildren full time.
The woman said "everyone" in their old gang world knew they were "only doing the kids" these days and she was shocked her family were targeted in the ongoing fracas.
Along with the four grandchildren they are raising the couple had a fifth grandchild and another daughter staying with them last night.
"It's really scary," said the woman.
"We have really knuckled down and have not been active - at all.
"I work, I work hard out - it's been a different story since we got the grandchildren, that is all we do now.
"This is disgusting when there are kids involved."
The woman called on the feuding gangs to "sort this s*** out".
"What's wrong with coming to some sort of resolution with each other, rather than involving the children?
"These are innocent children ... sort it out, sort it out now.
"I know them (the gang leaders) and we've known them for a long time since we were younger and used to hang out - I actually thought of them as family back in the day.
"This needs to stop, someone's going to get hurt or worse ... shooting at a house at 5am, that's just dangerous, it's horrible."
The woman said the children had all been relocated and she and her husband were working out where they would go.
Both of their cars had been shot and damaged so they had no transport but they hoped family members could help them get to a safe place.
"This all just has to stop, innocent people and children are going to get hurt," she said.
It is understood others connected to the gangs left their homes in Beach Haven, worried something like this would happen - that their homes would be targeted.
The woman's sister said because the husband had been "long inactive" they did not think they would be on anyone's radar.