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A US man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend with a shotgun in front of their seven-month-old daughter wrote an apology on Facebook hours before she was murdered.

Ethan Reid, 23, is charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old Kaylah Hodges, who was fatally shot at his mother's home in Scottsville, Kentucky.

A few before Monday's killing Reid posted a Facebook message expressing sorrow and hinting at some kind of personal struggle.

He wrote: "Sorry guys. I'm truly not this bad of a person. I've been pushed to this point over of time. I'm dissapointed (sic) in myself too. I could have been so much more. It's so sad."

(Image: Facebook)

(Image: Allen County Detention) (Image: Facebook)

He added: "I'm a terrible person overall. Learn from my mistakes. Just know this was never my intentions. I love all of you. I'm just not meant to be happy. Ever. I'm sorry. I love you all. Xoxo."

The Allen County Sheriff Department said the couple - whose relationship reportedly ended last week after five years - got into an argument and Hodges was killed with a blast from a 20-gauge shotgun.

The baby was not injured.

(Image: Facebook)

Reid's mother, April Riley, was holding her granddaughter when Hodges, who was from Portland, Tennessee, but had been living at the family's residence, was killed.

April tearfully told NewsChannel5 : "Kaylah handed me the baby and got around me, and Ethan shoved me and the baby back and went after her.

"And then I heard a 'pop' and when I got to the edge of the hallway I saw her fall out the front door."

She added: "That beautiful baby has no parents."

(Image: Facebook)

Riley told WSMV-TV her son was drunk, confronted Hodges and pointed a shotgun at her as she held their daughter.

After Riley took the baby, Hodges tried to flee but was shot in the back.

Reid was disarmed by a neighbour, who heard the shooting and went to the house with his own shotgun.

He hit Reid with the butt of the shotgun and sat on him until police arrived and arrested him.

(Image: Facebook)

Hodges, who was found on the front porch by deputies, was taken to hospital but died of her injuries.

Reid was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries he suffered during the struggle with the neighbour, and is being held in custody on a charge of murder.

Hodges regularly posted pictures of her daughter in a Facebook album called "the first year", which included snaps from the pair's trip to the Florida coast last week.

Photos from the last seven months show the mother and daughter cuddling and posing. One showed the girl being held by Reid as she drank from a bottle.