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On Wednesday, April 19, a Washington County judge ordered Kevin Monahan, age 65, held at the neighboring Warren County jail without bail as he faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Kaylin Gillis.
The shooting happened Saturday night, April 15, outside Monahan’s Washington County home, located in the small rural town of Hebron, located southeast of Glens Falls.
Deputies were called just before 10 p.m. Saturday with reports that a woman had been shot on Patterson Hill Road, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Emergency crews found four people in a vehicle on Cemetery Road in the town of Salem, approximately five miles from the initial shooting scene.
Medics treated Gillis at the scene, but she was eventually pronounced dead.
A law enforcement source told WNYT that Monahan shot Gillis with a 20-gauge shotgun.
Investigators determined that Gillis and the three others had been looking for a friend’s house when they mistakenly drove down Monahan’s driveway.
After realizing their mistake, they turned around and were leaving his home when Monahan fired two shots at their vehicle, striking Gillis, deputies said.
The group then drove to the Cemetery Road location in Salem, where they had better cell phone reception, and called 911.
Monahan spent roughly an hour holed up inside his home talking with 911 dispatchers before finally surrendering.
According to deputies, the group of friends never got out of their car and had no interaction with Monahan prior to the shooting.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, April 17, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said Monahan has refused to speak to investigators about the shooting.
“He was uncooperative," Murphy said. "He hasn’t spoken, not of substance, not related… to a motive or anything like that."
Meanwhile, friends and loved ones of Gillis, a 2021 graduate of Schuylerville High School in Saratoga County, are left reeling from her unexpected death.
Her father, Andrew Gillis, addressed reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, April 19, saying, “Kaylin deserves to have her story told.”
He said his daughter was an honors student who dreamt of becoming a marine biologist or veterinarian.
“This man took that away from us,” Gillis said.
She was also looking forward to the family’s upcoming move to Florida at the end of the year.
“Kaylin was so excited about it,” Gillis said.
He went on to recount a conversation he had with her boyfriend, Blake Walsh, who was driving at the time of the shooting, and hoped to someday marry her.
“The first time I saw Blake after this happened, he said, ‘It’s all my fault,’” Gillis recalled.
“And I said, ‘no, it’s no one's fault except for that man that pulled the trigger. You guys had no idea that something that bad could happen on a backcountry road.”
Gillis later told reporters that he hopes Monahan “dies in jail.”
Funeral services for Gillis will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Flynn Bros Funeral Home in Schuylerville, according to her obituary.
A GoFundMe campaign to help her family with memorial expenses, and later establish a scholarship in her name, had raised over $120,000 as of Wednesday.
Those who wish to donate can do so here.
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