In the United States, a man has been charged with second-degree murder after shooting and killing a 20-year-old woman when her car drove up the man’s driveway by mistake.
Kaylin Gillis was in New York with three other persons on Saturday. According to authorities, they drove into Kevin Monahan’s driveway in Hebron by accident. Mr Monahan, 65, reportedly opened fire on the vehicle as the driver exited, striking Ms Gillis.
“This is a very sad case of some young adults who were looking for a friend’s house and ended up at this man’s house who decided to come out with a firearm and discharge it,” Washington Country Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy told a news conference.
The area is rural, and the driveways are poorly lit at night. None of the group had exited the vehicle or attempted to enter Mr Monahan’s house before he allegedly opened fire, Mr Murphy said.
“There’s clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle,” Sheriff Murphy said. “There’s no reason for Mr Monahan to feel threatened.”
Ms Gillis was pronounced dead by paramedics after her friends drove away from the residence and attempted to telephone for help in a neighboring town.
Mr. Monahan was “uncooperative with the investigation and refused to exit his residence to speak with police,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
An attorney for Mr Monahan, Kurt Mausert, told CNN he was unaware that the bullets he fired had hit someone and had no idea why police were on his property.
The arrival of the vehicles “certainly caused some level of alarm to an elderly gentleman who had an elderly wife”, he told the New York Times, adding that his client “sincerely regrets this tragedy.”
“When there’s a tragedy and a victim, everyone wants a villain,” he said. “But sometimes they’re just tragedies and victims and there are no villains. And this is one of those times.”
Hebron Town supervisor Brian Campbell told Northeast Public Radio that it’s “very easy for people to get lost on back roads here”.
“You don’t know how many times I’ve been woken up early in the morning by people who are lost, out of gas, in a ditch, and you go tow them out and send them on their way.” “You never even consider your own safety,” he remarked.
The type of bullet that killed Ms Gillis was a significant lead slug fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, according to the Times-Union newspaper. According to the publication, it is often used to hunt large wildlife. Investigators have not disclosed the weapon used in the shooting.
Ms Gillis’ family described her as “a kind, beautiful soul and a ray of light to anyone lucky enough to know her” in a statement emailed to CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner.
The 20-year-old was described as an artist and “Disney fanatic,” looking forward to entering college in Florida to become a marine biologist.
“Our family will never be the same after Kaylin’s death, but we will be guided by her positivity, optimism, and joy as we learn to live with her loss.”
At a press conference given by the Schuylerville Central School District on Tuesday, former school officials talked about how much she will be missed in the close-knit community.
Ms Gillis graduated in 2021, and two of her younger siblings attend the district’s schools.
As of Tuesday, a GoFundMe page set up to assist Ms Gillis’s family with funeral expenses had generated about $100,000 (£80,000).
Separately, a householder in the US state of Missouri was charged with shooting a teenager who rang the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger brothers.
Unlike in that case – where the victim is black and the alleged gunman is white – both Ms Gillis and Mr Monahan are white.
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