Gardai believe a continuing feud between two families was responsible for an attack on a Limerick city house yesterday in which nine shots were fired at the building.
A family of seven escaped injury as the shots were fired through the bedroom windows of the house at Lee Estate, Island Road, Limerick, at 3 a.m.
Mr John Ryan and his family live in the house. His brother, Mr Eddie Ryan, was shot dead at the Moose Bar, Cathedral Place, Limerick, last November.
Mr John Ryan's wife, Christina, who was in bed at the time, said: "We were terrified, my five children were in bed asleep when the shots were fired. All I remember was hearing the children scream. My main concern was for their safety.
"We have all been very shook in the past few days, but my five-year-old son and my nine year-old daughter had been very scared. The youngest daughter has been terrified since an attack on Saturday morning." She added that on that occasion a car jack had been thrown through the sitting-room window on Saturday.
The two upper-storey windows were riddled with bullet holes and gardai said they appeared to have been caused by small-arms fire.
Chief Supt Liam Quinn said: "We will not know until the results of our forensic tests whether one or more guns were used.
"We are very concerned about this latest development, which we believe is part of an ongoing feud," he added.