Kaylin Gillis' best friend saw her die 'right in front of her' after being shot by 'sick' Kevin Monahan
SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK: Kaylin Gillis' best friend saw the 20-year-old woman dying in front of her after a "sick man with a gun" shot her car as the group drove away. On Saturday night, April 15, Gillis was traveling through New York State with three friends when they accidentally drove into the wrong property, thinking it was a friend's home.
The owner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out onto the porch and fired two rounds as Gillis and her friends hurriedly backed out of the driveway. Gillis, who was in the passenger seat, was fatally shot, right in front of her best friend.
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'Sick man with a gun took her life'
Eric Whiting, whose daughter was with Gillis in the car, wrote on social media, "My daughter had her best friend killed right in front of her this weekend. She was a wonderful girl with a sweet soul, and a sick man with a gun took her life," per The Mirror.
According to Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy, the group of friends left Hebron and went to Salem, northeast of Albany and close to the Vermont state line, where they dialed 911. He stated that the incident happened in a locale with spotty mobile phone coverage. When the emergency crews came, they performed CPR on Gillis but were unsuccessful. Tragically, she was declared dead on the spot, as per reports.
Murphy said Monahan was "unco-operative with the investigation and refused to exit his residence to speak with police," in a release. The sheriff reportedly said authorities spoke with him for an hour, with a 911 dispatcher and in person, before he was nabbed, per BBC. He has been charged with second-degree murder and is in Warren County jail.
"There's clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle," Murphy reportedly said, adding, "There's no reason for Mr Monahan to feel threatened."
What did Kevin Monahan's lawyer say?
Monahan's attorney, Kurt Mausert, told CNN that his client did not know the bullets he had fired had hit someone and why cops were on his property. "When there's a tragedy and a victim, everyone wants a villain," he said, adding, "But sometimes they're just tragedies and victims and there are no villains. And this is one of those times." Mausert claimed Monahan was "alarmed" by the vehicles as he lived with his elderly wife.
'A Kind, beautiful soul'
Gillis' family remembered her as a "a kind, beautiful soul and a ray of light to anyone who was lucky enough to know her." "Our family will never be the same but we will be guided by Kaylin's positivity, optimism, and joy as we learn to live with her loss," they said.
A GoFundMe started for Gillis raised $107,334 of the $125,000 goal at the time of writing. "She was taken from us far too soon, and we are devastated. Our family will never be the same but we will be guided by Kaylin's positivity, optimism, and joy as we learn to live with her loss," the fundraiser read.