Man convicted in wrong-way driveway shooting that killed woman

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. — A New York man was found guilty on Tuesday for fatally shooting a woman who was riding in a vehicle that mistakenly drove up his driveway.

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Kevin Monahan, 66, was convicted of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence, The New York Times reported.

Monahan was convicted of fatally shooting Kaylin Gillis, 20, on April 15, 2023, WTEN-TV reported. Gillis was a passenger in a vehicle that had turned around in Monahan’s driveway in Hebron, according to the television station. The jury took two-and-a-half hours to return a verdict.

Prosecutors said that Monahan fired two shots with a .20-gauge shotgun, and one of the bullets struck Gillis in the neck, the Times reported.

Gillis and a group of six friends were attempting to find a friend’s house for a party when they drove up Monahan’s half-mile, curving driveway in upstate New York near the Vermont border, according to the newspaper.

The caravan of two vehicles and a motorcycle began leaving when they realized their mistake, and that is when Monahan allegedly fired the weapon, The Associated Press reported.

Gillis died moments after she was shot in the SUV, which was driven by her boyfriend, according to the news organization.

Monahan testified that he tripped on a nail on his deck, and the gun discharged after it fell to the ground, WTEN reported.

“Kevin Monahan did not act out of fear,” prosecuting attorney Christian P. Morris told the jury during closing arguments, according to the Times. “He acted out of a baser emotion than that: He acted out of anger.”

Monahan’s attorneys argued that the defendant was “an old man” who had been awakened in bed and had been terrified that “a group of marauders” had come to attack him and his wife, the newspaper reported. His wife was inside the home and also had a gun.

Monahan will be sentenced on March 1, the Times reported.

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