PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Trinidad Express) — The father of missing 12-year-old Jade Peters has appealed for police protection after a gunman walked into his home and opened fire on New Year’s Day.

Wayne Peters, of Dow Village, California, said the gun attack followed a conversation with the man who allegedly abducted his daughter eight days ago.

Peters said the man contacted him around 7:00 pm on Wednesday.

“I ask him about Jade and he said if I drop all charges against him he will bring back my daughter. I asked him to hear Jade’s voice, but he didn’t. He told me to stop talking to the police and the media and he will bring her back. He called again but I didn’t get to speak with Jade,” he said.

Peters said as his family was ringing in the New Year, a man walked into the front yard and began shooting around 12:01 am.

“I was upstairs, looking for a CD. My stepson and his friend were outside. Then I see all the children start running. My stepson say ‘shots’ and I shout at them to lie down in the living room. I peep outside and I saw him. It was the same man who called on the phone. I know him well. He saw me and started shooting again,” he said.

A 17-year-old girl was wounded in the gunfire.

Police said the teenager, who was visiting the family, was bruised by a bullet in the left knee.

Peters said the gunman was introduced to his family several months ago.

“He assaulted one of my older daughters and she reported the matter to police. That is the charge he talking about. He is a dangerous man and I am afraid for Jade and my family. My older daughter is in hiding. We need some kind of protection from this man. He has weapons and he is dangerous,” he said.

Peters said he was prepared to pack his belongings and move out of California, as the man threatened to destroy his family.

He said the man had not contacted him since the shooting. “So we don’t know what is happening with Jade. I am begging the police to do something to find my child. He told me that he went to jail four times already and he not afraid to go again. If I stay here one of us will be killed,” he said.

Jade Peters was last seen at her home around 10:00 pm on Boxing Day when she told her sister that she wanted to go to a nearby shop to purchase a phone card.

Her mother, Pearl Narine, said Jade was told not to leave the house but she did not listen.

“She got a phone call from a man whom she knows. Then she told her sister that she was going to get the phone card. Nobody saw her walking on the road, so I believe that she left in a vehicle,” she said.

Trinidad Express