A grandmother has been fatally shot in the chest at close-range after answering the front door of her suburban home.
Stacey Klimovitch, 61, was shot through the screen door of her flat in the Newcastle suburb of Stockton, two hours south of Sydney, at about 8pm on Wednesday night.
The retired swimming teacher’s 31-year-old daughter and her eight-week-old granddaughter were also at the home at the time of the shocking attack.
It’s understood neither saw the shooting but heard the sound of the gunshot.
Emergency services were called to the suburban street just after 8pm, however the 61-year-old woman tragically died at the scene.
Police sectioned off Queen Street, where the pensioner lived, and the surrounding area as the killer fled the scene.
Her devastated best friend and neighbour said she had spoken to the ‘brand new’ grandmother just moments before the horrifying attack.
‘I’ve never heard a gunshot but there was no mistake what it was’, she told 9 News.
‘That’s when I heard the noise and the screaming. I tried to call her and couldn’t get her on the phone.
‘She was a brand new grandmother, and so happy to be a brand new grandmother.’
The woman said her best friend’s daughter had been ‘distraught’ having to care for the household dog while attending to her injured mother.
‘I’m going to miss her. Things like this shouldn’t be allowed to happen’, she said.
The 61-year-old is survived by three daughters and an autistic son, who requires full-time care.
Other local residents said more than a dozen police officers attended the scene with sniffer dogs, while a helicopter flew overhead.
The hunt for the grandmother’s killer is underway, with specialist forensic police scouring the woman’s property and the wider Hunter region for clues.
Detectives believe they know the identity of the person they are looking for, with the alleged shooter said to be a younger man known to the family.
Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphrey described the attack as ‘horrendous’.
‘An innocent person has answered the front door of a home and she’s been shot in the chest and killed in the presence of a relative and a child’, he said.
‘It doesn’t get any worse.’
Mr Humphrey said he was convinced the attack was targeted, but said the alleged shooter’s motives were still unknown.
‘We have a number of lines of enquiry’, he said.
Ms Klimovitch was a well-known figure in the tight-knit community and was involved in the swimming scene.
‘Stacey had such a soft heart and she just cared about everyone,’ one friend told the Newcastle Herald.
‘She probably taught every second kid in Stockton to swim. She was really proud of that. It’s an absolute tragedy, she would not have hurt a fly.’
NSW Police have urged anyone who was in the surrounding area and may have CCTV or dashcam footage to contact police.
