Sheriff: New Zealand man shot trying to enter teen's home

A New Zealand man who travelled to the US home of a 14-year-old girl he had communicated with online was shot by the girl's mother, a sheriff said today.

Troy George Skinner, 25, was shot on Friday after he allegedly smashed a glass door and tried to enter the home in Goochland, Virginia, said sheriff James Agnew.

The Goochland County sheriff 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.

Skinner was struck in the neck and remains hospitalised, according to authorities.

"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.

Agnew said Skinner will be charged with breaking and entering with a deadly weapon with the intent to commit a serious crime.

It wasn't immediately known if Skinner has an attorney. His hometown in New Zealand was not given by authorities.