A woman looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York was shot dead after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong address and was met with gunfire in the driveway, authorities have said.
Kaylin Gillis, 20, was travelling through the rural town of Hebron with three people on Saturday night when the group made a wrong turn on to the property.
They were trying to turn the car around when the homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out on to his porch and fired two shots, according to the Washington County sheriff, Jeff Murphy. One round hit Gillis.
The group drove to the neighbouring town of Salem, north-east of Albany near the Vermont state line, and called emergency services, said Murphy, who noted the shooting took place in an area with limited mobile phone service. Emergency crews arrived and performed CPR on Gillis but were unable to revive her.
When officers arrived at Monahan’s house to investigate the shooting, he refused to come out, Murphy said. Authorities spoke to him through a 911 dispatcher and in person for about an hour before he was taken into custody, according to the sheriff.
Monahan was booked into the Warren County jail on a charge of second-degree murder. It was not clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Murphy said at a news conference on Monday that Gillis, who lived in Schuylerville, New York, “was an innocent young girl who was out with friends looking for another friend’s house”, according to the Times Union of Albany. He said there was no reason for Monahan to feel threatened.
The shooting happened days after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot and wounded in Kansas City, Missouri, after going to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers.
