Father of New York woman killed in wrong driveway says he hopes suspect

The father of a 20-year-old New York woman killed over the weekend after authorities said she and her friends made a mistake turning into a man’s driveway says the alleged shooter took away his daughter’s dreams.

Kaylin Gillis and her friends took a wrong turn into the driveway of Kevin Monahan, who authorities said then shot at their car, striking and killing Gillis. Monahan, 65, has since been charged with second-degree murder and remains detained pending a bond hearing.

“My daughter was an honor student. She had hopes and dreams of becoming … a Marine biologist and this man took that away from her,” Andrew Gillis, Kaylin’s father, told CBS News on Wednesday.

Monahan’s neighbors told The Associated Press that he had become increasingly upset in recent years at people making wrong turns into his driveway.

Investigators said Gillis and her friends got lost while searching for another friend’s house nearby. They were driving two cars and a motorcycle when they turned into Monahan’s driveway. As they turned around, Monahan fired two gunshots, striking Gillis, who died as her friends tried to get help for her.

“(It) angers me so badly,” Andrew Gillis told CBS News. “I just hope to God that he dies in jail.”

Monahan’s lawyer, meanwhile, said Tuesday that the sheriff’s version of events was a “superficial, simplistic” account of what actually happened.

The lawyer, Kurt Mausert, declined to discuss details of the shooting, citing the pending criminal case.

“I believe we have a series of mistakes that led to a tragedy,” Mausert said. “But I don’t believe my client is a villain. But not every case with a tragedy has a villain, and I think this is one of them.”