A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York after she accidentally turned into the wrong driveway
Kaylin Gillis, a 20-year-old woman accidentally shot and killed in the driveway of a rural man’s cell phone
A 20-year-old woman was accidentally shot and killed on Saturday when she and three other people mistakenly turned into the wrong driveway while trying to look for a friend in upstate New York.
The young woman, identified as Kaylin Gillis, was struck by gunfire as a man fired two shots from his front porch, one of which hit the vehicle she was in, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said in a press conference Monday.
The man, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with her death, Murphy said Monday. It’s not clear whether Monahan has an attorney yet.
A very rural area with dirt roads. It’s easy to get lost. They drove up this driveway for a very short time, realized their mistake and were leaving, when Mr. Monahan came out and fired two shots,” Murphy said, adding that the area has poor cell phone service.
After the shots were fired, Gillis and the rest of the group drove away from the house in the town of Hebron looking for cell phone service, and then called 911.
They were more than 5 miles from the home in Salem. First responders began administering cardiopulmonary assistance but Gillis was dead by the time they arrived.
Pedestrians accidentally pulled up to a house owned by a man with a gun: Michael Murphy and Kaylin Gillis
Police officers later responded to the home from which shots were fired and found Monahan to be uncooperative, Murphy said, adding he “refused to exit his residence to speak with police.”
The New York State Police Special Operations Response Team helped take him into custody, according to a release from the Washington County Sheriff.
The sheriff said it was a sad case of a group of young adults looking for a friend and ended up at the house of a man with a gun.
“On behalf of the Gillis family, we would like to thank everyone who has offered their love and prayers as they embark on this incredibly difficult journey of grief and healing,” the GoFundMe page reads.
Kaylin Gillis and three of her friends were trying to find another friend’s house in rural Hebron, New York when they mistakenly pulled up to the house owned by Kevin Monahan, according to Sheriff Jeffrey J. Murphy.
They quickly realized their mistake and were turning the car around when Monahan stepped onto his porch and fired two shots, one of which struck Gillis.
He was unaware of any interaction between the passengers and Monahan. No one exited the vehicle, which was only in the driveway “for a very short time,” he said.
It’s also not uncommon for drivers to turn onto the wrong property in the area. In the 2000 census, the region had a population of 1,566.
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