KEY POINTS:
A couple and their six-year-old daughter were alseep when their home was targeted in a driveby shooting and a molotov cocktail attack early today.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave de Lange said the couple had been sleeping at the rear of the Hastings house when two shots pierced a front window at 1.22am.
A molotov cocktail then came through the window. It failed to ignite, but petrol was sprayed throughout the lounge.
A second petrol bomb hit the outside wall and exploded in flames, and a third was found on the road.
None of the family were injured.
Police were investigating whether the offenders stopped the car and entered the property to throw the petrol bombs, Mr de Lange said.
It was the second drive-by shooting in two days at the home in suburban Flaxmere.
Shots were also blasted at the house on Monday afternoon.
Mr de Lange would not comment on a motive at this stage.
Neighbour Rose Pai had been in the kitchen when she heard the gunshots.
"It was a loud bang, it was just bang, bang...I put my head out the window and saw the car race down the road."
She saw flames and walked down the driveway for a closer look.
Another woman said her husband heard the gunshots, saw the flames and filled a bottle of water.
He ran towards the home and the male occupant told him "my house has been cocktailed".
They poured water over the fire.
"They (the occupants) were really freaked out, and shaken up," she said.
During the first driveby shooting on Monday she heard loud bangs but thought it was a car backfiring.
She said children had been playing on the footpaths and walking home from school.
"I heard them scream and run across the road to the boys, but I thought they were just playing, I didn't click."
This morning the house, with a slide, trampoline and swings on the front lawn, was cordoned off by police.
- NZPA
