Residents of a Peterborough Avenue unit claim a balaclava-clad man kicked in their back door and shot a bullet into their freezer around 12.30 on Wednesday morning.

Lake Illawarra police were told the man then fled from the unit and was last seen running north towards View Street.

A 15-year-old girl was inside the unit with her mother, brother and mother’s partner when the man burst through their back door.

‘‘I was in my bedroom. Mum was cleaning the benches and I heard a smash. I thought she dropped a plate,’’ she said.

‘‘He burst through the screen door. We all ran into mum’s bedroom, and heard the gunshot.’’

The bullet, fired from the back of the apartment into the kitchen, grazed a water cooler before embedding into the freezer door.

‘‘It was pretty terrifying. We have no idea what he was after. We don’t think he took anything because we haven’t noticed anything missing,’’ she said.

A police dog was able to track a scent to View Street, where the shooter is believed to have jumped into a car and driven off.

Descriptions of the vehicle are currently unavailable, but the15-year-old girl described the man as wearing a green mask and black clothing.