A DIEGO Martin man was gunned down while sleeping in his bed early Friday morning.

Police said a woman and two minors who were also in the bedroom at the time, escaped death although the woman was shot in her leg.

Police said Nicholas Singh, 50, was asleep at his partially-completed Dass Trace, Bagatelle home at around 2 am when a man came up to the opened window, pushed his gun through the space between the burglarproof bars and opened fire. The woman was shot in her right leg.

Police who were called took Singh to hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

At the Forensic Science Centre, St James, Singh's relatives told Newsday the entire family is in a state of grief and shock that Singh could be killed as he slept on his bed. However, they were thankful that no one else was killed.

"She (the woman) later told us that she felt a burning sensation and felt something dripping from her leg," said a relative.

"She told us she tried to wake Nicholas up and heard him gasping for air. She used her cellphone and shone its light on him and realised he was covered in blood.

The relative said because so many shots were fired, they found spent shells in the room long after police left.

Another relative was thankful the weapon was not an automatic rifle.

"What would have happened if they came and sprayed up the place with an AK-47? The man get gunned down in his bed as he was sleeping. I mean, what really going on in this place?

"It could never be comfortable for us, because we don't know what would happen next."

Asked what he felt could be done again to better protect citizens from criminals, the relative said while the police could not prevent every murder from happening, he hoped they could treat with investigations more expeditiously. He said, in some cases arrests aren't made until long years later.

The relative said Singh took pride in his work as a labourer and worked hard to provide for his family.

During the weekly police media briefing on Thursday, Snr Supt for the Western Division Kelvern Thompson said serious crimes including robberies and murders were on a downward trend in the division over the past few years.

As of Friday afternoon, the country’s murder toll for the year was 57 compared to 28 for the same period last year.

Police from the Western Division and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region 1) are continuing enquiries.