US mom shoots, kills daughter after mistaking her for intruder

Washington: In a bizarre incident in the US, a mother shot and killed her 27-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder.

Sherry Campbell was sleeping in her bed and awoke after she thought an intruder had entered the home in St Cloud, Florida, and was approaching her, Sgt Denise Roberts said in a statement.

The mother told police she heard footsteps approaching quickly so she fired a single shot. Roberts said her daughter Ashley Doby had been visiting from North Carolina and did not live in the home, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

St Cloud police officials were quoted as saying that Sherry is a 911 dispatcher for Osceola County and her husband Claude Campbell is a St Cloud police corporal.

Campbell placed a breathless 911 call on Tuesday as his step-daughter lay unconscious. He told the dispatcher that Doby has "passed out. She has a pacemaker. She has a heart problem," in a recording released by police. But not once during the five-minute 911 call did Campbell mention why Doby was struggling to breathe a gunshot wound to the chest.

Campbell omitted that fact because he was asleep when his wife shot Doby, mistaking her for an intruder, police said. He did not realise what happened until his wife explained it to him, according to authorities.

Doby was taken to a local hospital, where she later died. Her death is being characterised by St Cloud Police as an "accidental shooting," according to Roberts. Sherry has not been arrested on any criminal charges.

"The homeowner's story is consistent with the physical evidence and the witness' statement," Roberts was quoted as saying.

"At this time, the incident appears to be an accidental shooting; however, the investigation is ongoing...," he said. In the 911 call, Sherry is heard in the background apologising to her daughter. "Baby, I love you so much, please!" she sobs.

"Please...Oh my god..." This is not the first time in Central Florida where a relative has been mistaken as an intruder in a fatal shooting.

In June, a 16-year-old Ocoee High School student was fatally shot by his brother in their Pine Hills home, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.