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 yesterday.

Troy George Skinner, 25, was shot 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 at Walmart after arriving in the US. Agnew 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.

Damage cause to home by man when he threw brick through glass door @CBS6 pic.twitter.com/zwfqFuUvWY

— Melissa J. Hipolit (@MelissaCBS6) June 25, 2018

Skinner, 25, was struck in the neck and remains hospitalised in the intensive care unit at VCU Medical Center, according to authorities.

The sheriff said Skinner first encountered the 14-year-old girl using the Discord chat service.

Knife was found in his possession which he had recently purchased along with a receipt. pic.twitter.com/B6LvR1dsID

— Kirk Nawrotzky (@KirkNawrotzky) June 25, 2018

After three or four months of conversation, the girl attempted to end their communication.

"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," Agnew said.

"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.