A Houston mother was killed in her home after filing a protective order against her ex-boyfriend, who is a suspect in her death. 

According to KHOU 11, 24-year-old Cedgadrick Ardarius Harris is the suspect in the murder of his 28-year-old ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Robinson. 

Police said Harris kicked in the door on the morning of July 17 and shot Robinson while she was sleeping with her 4-year-old daughter. The little girl, who was grazed on her jaw and shoulder, survived the shooting, and her mother died at the scene. There were four other children under the age of 12 in the apartment when the shooting happened, but they weren't injured. 

"It’s like a nightmare. It’s like a dream that I keep asking somebody to wake me up," Robinson's mother, Janet, told KHOU.

The devastated mother said Robinson recently tried to distance herself from her ex. 

"In the last month and a half is when she really put her foot down. ‘I’m not going back to him. I’m not going back to this situation,’” Janet said. “I think this time he really knew she meant it.”

According to KHOU, Robinson filed a protective order against Harris in November, and he allegedly attacked the mother of five last month. 

"I want girls to know, you have to tell somebody," Janet said. "When I think about it, she had to have been living in constant fear and she didn’t want us to know."

Houston Police Lt. Christopher Bruce said a 10-year-old child at the home called relatives after the shooting.

Harris fled the scene, but he surrendered on Monday, according to FOX26 Houston. Witnesses said they recognized the suspect as the woman’s ex-boyfriend when they saw him running from the scene, Click2Houston reported. 

“The person who ran out — kind of tall, skinny — ran out, jumped the fence and ran on the other side,” one witness said. “He used to live there with her and he was always beating on her.”

Another person said the shots were heard in the neighborhood when Robinson was killed. 

“I heard three shots — there was a pop, pop, pop — and I thought maybe somebody was shooting a firecracker. Then I heard it again,” the witness told KTRK.

Investigators said the suspect went to the second floor of the home, where the mother was sleeping with her child, and knocked down a locked door before firing six shots, which killed Robinson and injured the 4-year-old, ABC News reported. 

Harris, who is described as a "monster" by people who knew him, is charged with capital murder. Meanwhile, Robinson's children have been placed in the care of relatives.