The shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City after he reportedly went to the wrong door is raising awareness about another case in New York in which a group of friends was fired on after accidentally turning into the wrong driveway, the Times Union reported Monday.
Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy announced on Monday that 65-year-old Kevin Monahan has been charged with second-degree murder for shooting and killing 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis on Saturday evening.
Gillis was driving with friends in Hebron, New York, a little over 200 miles north of New York City. The group was about 19 miles away from Gillis' home on Schuyler Street in Schuylerville when they attempted to turn their car around, the sheriff said in the briefing.
That's when Monahan came out on his porch and fired two shots at the car, one of which hit Gillis, police said.
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With Gillis wounded, the friends fled to a neighboring town about six miles south when they reported the incident to 911. Sheriff Murphy didn't indicate where the group was trying to go, only that the area had very little cell phone service.
EMS found them and started CPR on Gillis, but they were unsuccessful in saving her.
Someone else had called to report that shots had been fired, and police were dispatched to the Patterson Hill Road home of Monahan. He refused to come out, according to the Times Union report, staying in his home as 911 attempted to negotiate with him and ask questions through the police for about an hour.
“Monahan was uncooperative with the investigation and refused to exit his residence to speak with police,” a news release from the sheriff's office said, according to the Times Union. “He was later taken into custody with the assistance of the New York State Police Special Operation Response Team after several hours.”
Gillis' father is a corrections officer at the Washington County jail, the report said, citing public employment records. It's unclear if that is why the sheriff's office said they made the "Administrative decision" to send Monahan to the Warren County jail instead.
The family started a GoFundMe page for Gillis' funeral expenses.
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence says there are no so-called "stand your ground" laws in New York, and "state law explicitly imposes a duty to retreat before resorting to deadly force outside the home."
See the full briefing below or at the link here.