The father of the Upstate New York woman fatally shot after the car in which she was riding drove up the wrong driveway is speaking out after the man who allegedly shot her was denied bail.
Kaylin Gillis was killed Saturday night after police say Kevin Monahan fired two shotgun rounds from his rural Hebron, N.Y., porch into the vehicle in which Kaylin was riding with her boyfriend and two others.
Monahan, 65, who police say was uncooperative at the time of his arrest, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of the 20-year-old aspiring veterinarian.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday following Monahan’s court appearance, Kaylin’s father, Andy Gillis, expressed his frustration and heartbreak over his daughter’s tragic death.
“For this man to sit on his porch and fire at a car with no threat is just … [it] angers me so badly, and I just hope to God that he dies in jail,” said Gillis, Mister Truth reports. “Kaylin deserves justice.”
“Kaylin’s two younger sisters … are going to have to grow up without their older sister,” Gillis added. “My wife Angel is going to have to go through the rest of her life without her baby girl.”
Kaylin’s obituary describes her as a Disney fanatic and “the glue of her family. She was loyal, outgoing, beautiful, and smart, it was a part of her natural instincts to always do the next right thing.”
“She loved tacos, cheeseburgers, and ice cream. Family was most important to her, and she never missed a Sunday Dinner at Mi Mi’s. Any chance she could spend with her family she would,” the obituary reads.
Monahan’s attorney, Kurt Mausert, did not immediately respond to Mister Truth’s request for comment, but told News, “there were mistakes made by the drivers of the vehicles, mistakes made by my client.”
“I cannot elaborate on that more until I conduct my own investigation, which I’m in the process of doing. And until I receive discoverable material from the district attorney’s office,” Mausert said.
“If the situation involves error rather than ill intent, then there really is no villain,” Mausert added, per the outlet. “I believe this is a case that was sort of the perfect storm of errors and confluence of events that resulted in a tragedy without necessarily there being malefic intent.”
A celebration of life for Kaylin is planned for Friday.