Boyfriend of woman fatally shot in wrong driveway: ‘We thought we were at the right address’
The boyfriend of the New York woman who was killed last Saturday after pulling into the wrong driveway said in an interview that they “thought we were at the right address.”
In an interview with NBC News published Wednesday, Blake Walsh told the media outlet that he and three other passengers — including his girlfriend, Kaylin Gillis, were looking for a friend’s house in Hebron, N.Y., for a party to attend.
Walsh, who was the driver of the vehicle in which Gillis was a passenger, said four friends who were traveling in another vehicle also pulled into the wrong driveway, noting the group realized they were at the wrong address and were about to leave.
“We thought we were at the right address,” Walsh told NBC News. “We didn’t have any cell service to figure it out. As soon as we figured it out that we were at the wrong location, we started to leave, and that’s when everything happened.”
Walsh, who met Gillis in high school, said what happened next was a “blur,” detailing how the alleged shooter, Kevin Monahan, started firing at the group as they were about to leave his driveway.
“My friend said, ‘They’re shooting — go!’ I tried to step on the gas as fast as I could, and that’s when the fatal shot came through,” Walsh said, adding that: “I want to believe it was instant. I’m hoping it was. I’m praying it was.”
Authorities said Monahan fired twice after Walsh’s group mistakenly pulled into his driveway, allegedly firing at the group as they were leaving his property.
One of the two bullets struck Gillis, 20, who was pronounced dead several miles away after the group called 911. Walsh added that Gillis, his girlfriend of four years, was struck in the neck and that they had to drive 5 miles away to get cellular service.
Monahan, 65, was arraigned on Sunday and charged with second-degree murder in the incident, according to NBC News. Monahan’s attorney, Kurt Mausert, said his client has pleaded not guilty in the case, adding that his client didn’t intend to hurt anyone.
Gillis’s death comes after Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old Kansas City, Mo., resident, turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday after shooting Ralph Yarl twice over the weekend as the 16-year-old Black teenager accidentally went to the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers.
Lester was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Yarl, who was in critical condition after being shot in the head and the arm, was released from the medical facility and returned home Monday.