NEW YORK — A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot by an upstate New York homeowner after entering the wrong driveway, investigators said Monday.
Kaylin Gillis was in a car with three friends looking for another friend’s house in rural Hebron, New York, on Saturday night when they mistakenly turned around.
After the vehicle sat in the driveway for “a very short time”, Kevin Monahan exited the residence and fired two shots as the group of friends left the property, police said. One of the shots hit Gillis.
The group then drove to the nearby town of Salem to get cell service and call for help. Emergency personnel performed CPR on Gillis, but she was pronounced dead.
“There was clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle,” Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said at a news conference. “There was no reason for Mr. Monahan to feel threatened, especially since the vehicle appeared to be leaving at the time.”
Monahan, 65, refused to leave his home when officers arrived to investigate reports of gunshots, police said. After authorities spoke to Monahan through a 911 dispatcher and in person for about an hour, he was taken into custody.
Monahan was charged with second degree murder. He was being held at Warren County Jail.
Murphy said Gillis, from Schuylerville, New York, was “an innocent young lady” from a “very good family”.
“It’s a very sad case of young people looking for a friend’s house and ending up at this man’s house who decided to come out with a gun and shoot him,” Murphy said.
Associated Press contributed to this story.