A man in America’s Ohio state shot dead his 16-year-old daughter inside their family home on Wednesday after mistaking her for an intruder.

The teenager, Janae Hairston, was inside the garage at the home, in the state capital Columbus, shortly before 4:30 a.m. when her dad opened fire and killed her, NBC News said in a report on Thursday.

“My husband made a mistake and shot her because he thought she was an intruder,” the girl’s distraught mother said.

“She was in our garage and my husband just didn’t know what was going on,” she said. The father, who was not identified, is heard in the background during the 8-minute call pleading, “Breathe baby,” the outlet said.

The Columbus Police Department said in a report posted on Twitter that the teen was rushed to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:42 a.m.

No charges have been filed in the case, police said.

The death of Janae Hairston added to the long list of gun violence victims in the United States this year.

The incident has sent shock waves through the USA and triggered a debate on the country’s gun laws which allow easy access to firearms.

The tragedy came merely two days after an off-duty North Carolina police officer shot and seriously injured his 15-year-old son in an apparent accident.

The Columbus Dispatch said 2021 was on track to become one of the deadliest years in the city's history for shootings and homicides.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, gun violence has risen sharply in the United States, where gun rights are a hotly debated issue, but largely protected by the constitution.

According to the site Gun Violence Archive, more than 44,000 people have been killed by guns in the United States this year, including suicides, of which 1,517 were minors.