NEW YORK — When Kaylin Gillis and her friends made a wrong turn down an upstate New York driveway last weekend, they had no way of knowing the property belonged to a man, according to a neighbor, he had become more and more bitter. years about people who went to his land by mistake.
This time the error proved fatal. Hebron landowner Kevin Monahan opened fire on Saturday night, killing Gillis, 20, as she and her friends drove away after turning on the long dirt road, the county sheriff said. Washington, Jeffrey Murphy.
Monahan, 65, was arrested for second degree murder and remains in custody pending a bail hearing.
One of his neighbors, Adam Matthews, who runs an auto repair shop in nearby Salem, said Monahan had become increasingly angry in recent years with people making wrong turns in his driveway. .
“I’m a little overwhelmed,” Matthews said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday after speaking to other news outlets. “It is a tragic event.”
Murphy said Gillis and his friends got lost on their way to another friend’s house nearby. They were driving two cars and a motorcycle when they turned into Monahan’s driveway. When they realized their mistake and turned around, Monahan fired two shots at them as they walked away, Murphy said.
One of the bullets hit the back of the car Gillis was in and hit her, causing a fatal injury, Murphy said.
Gillis’ father, Andrew Gillis, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that his family was devastated.
“Kaylin was a kind and beautiful soul and a ray of light to anyone lucky enough to know her,” the post read. “She was just beginning to find her way in the world with kindness, humor and love…She was taken from us too soon.”
Andrew Gillis wrote that his daughter was an honors student and talented artist who hoped to attend college in Florida and dreamed of becoming a marine biologist.
“Our family will never be the same again, but we will be guided by Kaylin’s positivity, optimism and joy as we learn to live with her loss,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Monahan’s attorney spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday, calling the sheriff’s version of events a “superficial and simplistic” account of what really happened.
The attorney, Kurt Mausert, declined to discuss details of the shooting, citing the ongoing criminal case.
“I think we have a series of mistakes that led to a tragedy,” he said in a phone interview. “But I don’t think my client is a villain. But not every tragedy has a villain, and I think this is one of them.”
The sheriff described Monahan as uncooperative and said he initially refused to leave the house before surrendering peacefully after about an hour.
Mausert disputed that there was a confrontation, saying he was on the phone with his client as law enforcement officers were at Monahan’s door. He said Monahan was talking to police outside his door and officials did not say why they were there and did not have a warrant for his arrest. The attorney said Monahan was exercising his right to remain silent when he refused to tell police what happened.
When police officers told the lawyer over the phone that someone was dead, Mausert said he helped organize the peaceful surrender.
“They told me there had been a death, so it started to make sense to me,” he said. “At that time, it is dangerous for everyone. My goal at the time was to make it easier for my client to get to the police safely.”
As Gillis’ family mourned on Tuesday, officials from the school system he attended held a press conference to express their sadness over his death. Gillis graduated in 2021 from Schuylerville High School, about 20 miles from Monahan’s home in Hebron. Her two younger sisters are in seventh and ninth grade in their hometown.
“We have a very, very close community,” said college principal Katie Elsworth. “And we tell them after they graduate that we will always be their school family. We will always be there to support you, take care of you and love you. And when something happens to one of our graduate students, our hearts ache just as much as when they’re here.”
Schuylerville High School principal James Ducharme said Gillis had an infectious smile.
“His smile would light up a room,” she said. “Her personality would light up any classroom she walked into or any club activity she participated in.”
School officials said Gillis was on the competitive high school cheerleading team for two seasons, participated in Future Farmers of America programs, and was an avid performer.
A celebration of Gillis’ life is scheduled for Friday in Schuylerville.