A father was yards away from his children when he was shot dead by a man who had offered to give him a free dog, his partner has claimed.

Christopher 'Scott' Bowman had responded to a Facebook advert about the creature and invited the man into their home in Jackonsville, Florida, Chelsea Bowman said.

"The dude takes his shoes off and he stays. And he doesn’t leave,” she told news channel Action News Jax. “And it’s making everybody uncomfortable.”

When they asked him to leave, he began fighting with Mr Bowman and held a gun to his head, she said.

Mr Bowman wrested control of the weapon and shot the attacker in the arm, but when he began to run away, the man shot him.

She added that her daughter Kinley was shouting: "You shot my dad! You shot my dad.”

The pair were divorced but had planned on remarrying, she added.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office told The Independent that no arrests had been made in connection with the case and they could not confirm that the pair had met because the advert.