INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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US police say they know nothing of Mr Skinner's background
A
New Zealand man flew to the US state of Virginia and was shot after trying to break into the home of a teenage girl whom he met online,
police say.Troy George Skinner, 25, was shot in the neck by the girl's mother after smashing his way through a glass door.Goochland County
Sheriff James Agnew said the man was also armed with a knife, duct tape and pepper spray.He travelled over 8,500 miles (13,500km) after the
girl stopped speaking to him online, police say
"This was not random, not spontaneous, this was something very planned," Sheriff Agnew said on Monday, describing Mr Skinner's two days of
travel."It's a new world," he added
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Mr Skinner was carrying a camouflage folding knife, duct tape, and pepper spray
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A landscaping brick was hurled through the family's glass door, police say
Police say the man had taken three flights and a bus, and had from Auckland, New Zealand, 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, adding that the two had met through Discord, an app that allows video-gamers to speak to each other online.The incident
occurred on Friday in the Holland Hills neighbourhood while the mother and her two teenage girls - aged 14 and 18 - were painting inside the
house.He knocked on the door, but the mother - whom police did not identify - chose not to answer, telling investigators she was not in the
habit of answering the door during the day.Image copyrightCBSImage caption
After breaking the glass, Mr Skinner
allegedly stuck his hand inside to unlatch the door
After seeing the mother inside, he yelled that he had hitchhiked 30
miles to the house and needed help.He then attempted to enter the home, and eventually "he got a brick and attempted to break that door
down," the sheriff said, adding that he "attempted to violently get inside her house".The mother warned Mr Skinner that she had a gun, and
waited until he had reached his arm past the broken glass to attempt to unlatch the door before she fired two shots."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," Sheriff Agnew said.Mr Skinner was shot once in the neck and fled to a nearby yard where he
collapsed.Police found him with a knife, pepper spray, tape and his plane ticket from New Zealand in his pocket.They say he had planned to
return to New Zealand on 30 June.Image copyrightCBSImage caption
Police say the parents knew nothing of the teen's
communications with Mr Skinner
Police believe the weapons and tape had been purchased hours earlier at a nearby Walmart.Mr
Skinner is now in hospital and is expected to survive.He is facing charges of breaking and entering with a deadly weapon and with the intent
to commit a serious offence.Goochland County officials say they have contacted the FBI for assistance.The sheriff said that the girl's
parents were unaware of her contact with Mr Skinner, and that the girl had tried to cut off communication with him since first meeting
online four months earlier.He told reporters that he found it hard to fathom how far the suspect is believed to have travelled."When I sit
back and think about it, I said: 'You've got to be kidding me.'"
