Woman, 20, shot and killed after friends accidentally pull into wrong driveway: 'There was clearly no threat'

Police have charged an upstate New York man for allegedly shooting and killing a 20-year-old woman after the car she was riding in drove up his driveway by accident.

Kaylin Gillis was riding in a car with three friends late Saturday night when their vehicle turned into the driveway belonging to 65-year-old Kevin Monahan. They were searching for a friend's house nearby. But the night took a tragic turn when, without apparent provocation, Monahan fired two gunshots from his porch. One of those shots hit the car, killing Gillis.

"It's a very rural area with dirt roads. It's easy to get lost," explained Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy at a press conference on Monday. "They drove up this driveway for a very short time, realized their mistake and were leaving, when Mr. Monahan came out and fired two shots."

According to Murphy, the occupants of the car and Monahan never interacted.

"There was clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle. There was no reason for Mr. Monahan to feel threatened," Murphy said. "This is a very sad case of some young adults that 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."

After the shooting, police attempted to arrest Monahan, but he was "uncooperative and refused to exit his residence to speak with police," police said in a press release. He was taken into custody "several hours" later.

Police charged Monahan with second-degree murder.

Kaylin Gillis remembered as ‘sweet,’ ‘thoughtful’www.youtube.com

The shocking incident happened just days after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot when he went to the wrong home while looking for relatives.

Prosecutors have charged 85-year-old Andrew D. Lester with one felony count of assault in the first degree and one felony count of armed criminal action for shooting Yarl. Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson believes there was a "racial component" to the shooting; Lester is white and Yarl was black.

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