A New Zealand man has been shot by a mother in the US, after he travelled 13,000 km from Auckland to Richmond, Virginia, where he tried breaking into the house after her 14-year-old daughter stopped talking to him online.
Troy George Skinner, 25, made the journey from New Zealand to the US after the girl stopped talking to him online, police say.
Skinner was shot in the neck on Saturday after he allegedly smashed a glass door and tried to enter the home in Goochland, a suburb in Richmond, Virginia, County Sheriff James Agnew said.
This was not random, not spontaneous, this was something very planned.
He said Skinner bought a knife and duct tape after arriving in the US. The sheriff also said the girl's mother saw a man trying to enter her home, warned him several times she had a gun, then fired after he broke the glass on the second door he tried to open.
"All I can say is the manner in which he attempted to enter that home in the face of a firearm pointed at him and the implements we recovered from him - the only inference is that he had very bad intent," Agnew said.
"This was not random, not spontaneous, this was something very planned.”
Skinner had allegedly taken three flights and a bus to get to the girls home in the US, travelling from Auckland to the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia.
"He was not invited here, he was not expected here, he had been told in the past that the daughter no longer wished to communicate with him," Sheriff Agnew said.
The teenage girl and Skinner met through an app called Discord, a platform that allows video-gamers to speak to each other online.
The incident occurred on Saturday while the mother and her two daughters aged 14 and 18 were inside painting the house.
Skinner allegedly knocked on the door of the home when he arrived, but the mother – who police did not identify – chose not to answer, telling investigators it was not a habit of hers to answer the door during the day.
When Skinner saw the mother inside he yelled at her saying he had hitchhiked 30 miles to get to the home and he needed help.
He then attempted to enter, and eventually "he got a brick and attempted to break that door down," Sherriff Agnew said, adding that he "attempted to violently get inside her house".
Skinner was warned by the mother that she had a gun and waited until he had reached his arm past the broken glass to try and unlock the door, before she fired two shots, with one hitting him in the neck.
He then fled to a nearby property where he collapsed.
Sherriff Agnew said the manner in which Skinner tried to enter the home in the face of a firearm pointed at him, and with the items recovered from him, “the only inference is that he had very bad intent.”
He was found with a knife, pepper spray, duct tape and his plane ticket from New Zealand in his pocket.
He is now in hospital and is expected to survive.
Agnew said Skinner will be charged with breaking and entering with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit a serious crime. The FBI has been contacted for assistance.
New Zealand police said they were aware of the incident and would be helping US authorities as needed.
They also said they had been in contact with Skinner's family and had offered consular assistance.
- With AAP
