Kaylin Gillis, 20, was just looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York. But when she went to the wrong address in the car she was riding in, she was shot to death.
Authorities made the tragic announcement Monday.
Gillis was traveling through the rural town of Hebron with three other people Saturday night when the group made a wrong turn onto the property. They were trying to leave when homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out onto his porch and fired two shots, according to Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy.
One round hit Gillis, and it killed her despite the efforts of emergency crews in a neighboring municipality.
When officers arrived at Monahan’s house to investigate, he refused to come out, Murphy said. He was eventually taken into custody, according to the sheriff, and was booked into the Warren County jail on a charge of second-degree murder.
Murphy said at a news conference Monday that Gillis, who lived in Schuylerville, “was an innocent young girl who was out with friends looking for another friend’s house,” according to the Times Union of Albany. He added that there was “no reason for Mr. Monahan to feel threatened.”
The shooting happened just days after a terribly similar incident: 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot and wounded in Kansas City, Missouri, after heading to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers.
