Kiwi shot by teen girl's mum in US

Photo: Goochland County Sheriff's Office via RNZ
Photo: Goochland County Sheriff's Office via RNZ
A New Zealand man is in a US hospital after being shot by the mother of a teenage girl he had reportedly met online.

Police say Troy Skinner (25) was shot and wounded while breaking into a home in Goochland, Virginia.

The Goochland County Sheriff's Office said they responded on Friday to reports of a gunshot and a 911 call saying a man dressed in black was attempting to enter a house.

When they arrived at the house they discovered the New Zealander with a gunshot wound to the neck, lying in the front yard.

Police said he had tried to break in to the house where a mother and two teenage daughters live by smashing a door with a brick.

The woman told him she had a gun and was calling police.

According to the police statement, he smashed a glass door and attempted to enter the home.

As he reached through the door to unlatch it the mother shot at him twice.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch in Virginia, Skinner and a 14-year-old girl had been in contact online for several months, and police said she had then attempted to end the communication.

Goochland County sheriff James Agnew told the newspaper the New Zealander was not invited to the house, and not expected there, after being told the teenager no longer wished to communicate with him.

Sheriff Agnew said Skinner was carrying a knife, pepper spray and duct tape when he attempted the break-in.

He will be charged with breaking and entering with a deadly weapon, with intent to commit a serious offence.

He remains in hospital in Richmond, Virginia in a stable condition with a gunshot wound to his neck.

Police said he came into the the United States on Wednesday 20 June via Los Angeles International Airport.

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