WASHINGTON — A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the US after he allegedly shot and killed a 20-year-old woman as the car she was in mistakenly drove up the man's driveway.

Kaylin Gillis was with three other people in New York state on Saturday.

They accidentally drove into the driveway of Kevin Monahan in the town of Hebron, police say.

As the driver was leaving, Monahan, 65, allegedly opened fire on the vehicle, hitting Ms Gillis.

"This is a very sad case of some young adults who were looking for a friend's house and ended up at this man's house who decided to come out with a firearm and discharge it," Washington Country Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told a news conference.

The area is rural, and the driveways are poorly lit at night. None of the group had exited the vehicle or attempted to enter Monahan's house before he allegedly opened fire, Murphy said.

"There's clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle," Sheriff Murphy said. "There's no reason for Mr Monahan to feel threatened."

The friends drove away from the house and attempted to call for help in a nearby town, but Ms Gillis was pronounced dead by paramedics.

Monahan was "uncooperative with the investigation and refused to exit his residence to speak with police", the sheriff's office said in a news release.

A GoFundMe page was created to help Ms Gillis's family "with funeral and other expenses".

Separately, a householder in the US state of Missouri was charged with shooting a teenager who rang the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger brothers. — BBC