The boyfriend of the New York woman ‘Kaylin Gillis’ who was killed after pulling into the wrong driveway while searching for a party recalled her final moments, saying in an interview that his life was shattered.
Blake Walsh, who was driving girlfriend, Kaylin Gillis, 20, and two others, said the deadly shooting had begun because he had been searching for a friend’s house and pulled into the wrong driveway.
“We thought we were at the right address,” Walsh said. “We didn’t have any cell service to figure it out. As soon as we figured it out that we were at the wrong location, we started to leave, and that’s when everything happened.”
Walsh said what occurred next seemed like a blur.
“My friend said, ‘They’re shooting — go!’ I tried to step on the gas as fast as I could, and that’s when the fatal shot came through,” Walsh said.
“I want to believe it was instant. I’m hoping it was. I’m praying it was,” he said through tears.
Authorities said the suspect, Kevin Monahan, 65, fired twice after the group mistakenly turned into the driveway of his home. Monahan is alleged to have fired as the group was leaving, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told reporters Monday.
Emergency responders performed CPR on Gillis but she was pronounced dead on the scene.
Monahan was arraigned Sunday on charges of second-degree murder and pleaded not guilty, said his lawyer, Kurt Mausert.
His request for bail was denied by the judge at Washington County Court on Wednesday.
“When you have a victim and a tragedy, the thing everyone wants is a villain, but not every time there’s a victim and tragedy is there a villain,” he said. “A number of errors were made that were unintentional.”
Chief Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris said Wednesday that Monahan is “confrontational and hot-tempered,” which would lend itself to impulsivity.
Morris also revealed Monahan had recently “caused a scene” at a state Department of Motor Vehicles office, alleging he was upset because he had to show up in person. Prosecutors asked the judge to impose bail between $250,000 cash and $1 million partly secured bond.
Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told CNN that Mr. Monahan has “not shown any remorse in this case”.
Walsh and Gillis had dated for over four years. Walsh added: “I want the world to know how good of a person she really was and how much she impacted everybody who had the fortunate opportunity to be in her life.”
Angelique and Andrew Gillis, the woman’s parents, remembered their daughter as a “beautiful soul” who had “so much to live for and so many dreams.”
“My world was taken from me Saturday,” Mr Walsh told NBC. “I didn’t want to be with anybody else, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.”