Father of Kaylin Gillis hopes alleged killer Kevin Monahan ‘dies in jail’— as gunman denied bail
The father of a woman fatally shot in upstate New York after she and her friends mistakenly pulled into the wrong driveway said he hopes his daughter’s killer “dies in jail” – as the suspect was ordered held without bail Wednesday.
Andrew Gillis, reeling from the loss of his 20-year-old daughter, Kaylin, lauded Washington County Supreme Cour♒t Judge Adam Michelini’s decision to remand Kevin Monahan at a W🀅ednesday afternoon bail hearing.
He💛 called his daughter “a victim of circumstance.”
✨“Their friend that they were going to see was a half a mile down the road, and I heard a lot of people say that this man’s driveway is wide at the base and it looks like a road,” he told reporters. “And for this man to si꧋t on his porch and fire at a car with no threat angers me so badly.”
Gillis, his dau♋ghter’s boyfriend Blake Walsh and Monahan’s wi✨fe, Polly, were present in the crowded courtroom.
Monahan, 65, allegedly shot at Gillis and �ꦦ�her friends after they mistook his driveway for a friend’s and pulled into his Hebron, New York, property late Saturday, officials have said.
The businessman fired two shots at the vehicle as Walsh, who was driving, was leaving, according to p💃olice and 🔯Gillis’ father.
Gillis suffered a fatal gunshot wound. Her alleged🧸 killer was charged with second-degree murder.
The father of three paused multiple times to colꦦlect himself as he spoke Wednesday. He described how he learned of the shooting through Walsh’s mother, recalling how the woman told him, “I just got a call from Blake, and he’s hysterical.”
“Shortly after, weไ received a call from her friend, and she said to us, ‘I don’t know how to tell you🐲 this, but Kaylin’s been shot.’”
“She said to us, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but Kaylin’s been shot.’”
Andrew Gillis
By the time he and his wife, Kaylin’s mother, arrived at the scene, Monahan had allegedly barricaded himself in his home with a gun, he said.
“My wife and I ended up going to the sheriff’s substation and that’s when we find out, about 45 minutes to an hour, that she had passed,” Gillis said.
Gillis said his daughter had planned to spend the night in her boyfriend’s ✨hot tub.
“If there’s anything that I’m thankful for, it’s that I got to tell her that I love her before she went out thꦜe door,” he went on.
Monahan wore a black suit, blue shirt and tie, shackles around his midsection🌟 in court Wednesday.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris said Monahan is “known for being confrontational and hot-tempered” — and had a🌠 temper tantrum in the same building only days earlier.
“Just last week in this very building at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the defendant caused a scene for having to be required to set an appointment,” Morris said. “He ended🍃 up taking photographs of the people in this building ꦰand stormed off.”
Defense attorn๊ey Kurt Mausert asked for low bail.
He said Monahan called him the night of the shooting and “will voluntarily participate.”
“Due to the severity of the offense, the court will probably intervene some sort of cash or monetary bail,” Mausert added. “I would ask that it be reasonable and not unduly harsh, and it be the least restrictive to ensure my client’s return to these proceedings.”
Judge Michelini noted that Monahan faces a “significant” prison term even befor🐻e he’s been indicted.
“We know from the charge here what’s beingꦺ alleged, and that’s that Kaylin was killed. She’d dead. I don’t think there’s any more seriou﷽s harm than that.”
