A New York man who was convicted of killing a 20-year-old woman after she and other young people mistakenly pulled into the driveway of his home was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life.
Kevin Monahan was convicted in January of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and tampering in the April 15 death of Kaylin Gillis, whom he fatally shot after the car she was traveling in, as well as another vehicle and a motorcycle, pulled into Monahan’s driveway in rural Hebron, about 40 miles north of Albany, as they were looking for a party.
The group was lost and in an area of New York that did not have cell service.
Monahan had testified at trial that he felt threatened by the appearance of the vehicles and motorcycle pulling into his driveway and thought he was being blocked in. He said he turned on his floodlights, grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun and fired a warning shot. The second shot he fired, the one that killed Gillis, happened by accident, Monahan testified, after he tripped over nails protruding on his deck.
At the trial, Monahan said he felt “like my soul is dead.”
He was also sentenced to a smaller consecutive sentence for tampering with evidence.
Gillis’ boyfriend, Blake Walsh, told NBC News a few days after the shooting that the group realized they were at the wrong home and were driving away when shots rang out.
Walsh, who was driving a Ford Explorer, said he tried to step on the gas “and that’s when the fatal shot came through.”
Gillis was pronounced dead several miles away after the group called 911, authorities have said. Walsh said she was shot in the neck. The group had to drive 5 miles because of the lack of cell service, he said.