The glamorous and privileged lives of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have taken a horrifying turn, leaving them terrified for their children's safety.

The world's most famous family have surrounded themselves with an ironclad ring of security after a late-night shooting outside their LA home left bullet holes in the side of their minder's van.

Details of the incident are being kept under wraps and the superstar couple have avoided discussing it publicly in a bid to stop prank callers making police work more difficult. But New Idea has learnt police sources suspect Brad and Angelina are at the centre of a sinister plot.

One source tells New Idea: 'They're viewing this as a kidnap plot gone wrong. 'The families of wealthy superstars have always been targets and Brad and Angelina have four children, so there are six walking targets in that home.

'Even with the kind of security they have, securing six people at any one time is a very difficult job,' the source adds.

So difficult that the family's security team has been bolstered by several unmarked police cars posted outside the Jolie-Pitt compound in the Los Feliz area of LA. But until police find those responsible for the shooting, Brad and Ange are staying away from California altogether.

One of the family's neighbours, Jay Bado, exclusively tells New Idea: 'There has been a massive increase in security around the house since the shooting.

I understand why Brad and Ange left - the situation is terrifying', he says. 'This is a fantastic neighbourhood with no gun crime. The police officer I spoke to said the shots were fired from an expensive foreign car into the side of the van that Brad and Angelina's security team use.

'If this had just been someone firing at random, you could maybe write it off as a coincidence, but when they're targeted by armed criminals driving high-powered cars, it's a lot more frightening,' Jay adds.

Perhaps most chillingly of all, friends of the couple say they were warned before the shooting that the family were kidnap targets.

Since then, Brad and Ange have been so careful to protect the kids that a US magazine recently ran a front-page headline asking 'Where's Shiloh?' because the 19-month-old blonde tot hadn't been seen since October.

The couple also made an expensive addition to their security team - a family coordinator. The Jolie-Pitts already spend around $5800 a day retaining the services of ex-military minder Mickey Brett, and now they've hired a former elite Special Air Services agent named ‘Bill', costing them an extra $3000 a day. The extra equipment and personnel takes their annual security budget to more than $5m.

Ronen Speyer, a security consultant, tells New Idea: 'Brad and Angelina are making a dangerous mistake by hiring more layers of security to combat the threat. The best security teams are centrally controlled and the more complicated you make things, the higher the risk of a breach.'

While thankfully no-one was injured, pals of Ange's say the incident is the last straw and will urge them to leave LA for good.

One close friend tells New Idea: 'Until now Brad has pushed for a stable home in LA, where the kids can go to school and get settled, while Ange wants to continue their more nomadic lifestyle.

'After this there's no way she'll want to live in America - a country full of gun nuts,' the friend says. 'Because they're such a multicultural family they've always been a target for scary white-supremacist groups and now that they have to worry about kidnappers they will probably leave Hollywood for good and settle abroad.

'Ange's been talking about expanding their family and Brad's admitted publicly 'they're just getting started' when it comes to kids.

'When the time comes to expand the family they'll definitely do it thousands of miles from Hollywood', the friend says. 'Ironically, Ange feels safest in developing countries - when she had Shiloh she spent the last part of her pregnancy in Namibia.

'She's been talking about Haiti or the Dominican Republic as potential locations for having their next child. They're building an amazing compound there', the friend says. 'It's sure to be one of the most secure properties on the planet - and much more beautiful than anywhere in LA.'

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