An off-duty American police officer in Connecticut shot and critically wounded his 18-year-old daughter, apparently mistaking her for an intruder after she sneaked out of their home and re-entered through the basement.

Eric Scott, 41, on the New Haven police force for nine years, has not been charged in Tuesday's shooting.

"Mr Scott was under the impression his daughter had gone to bed for the night," Stratford Captain Thomas Rodia said.