(CNN) — The man who fatally shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, who was in a car that mistakenly turned into the driveway leading to her home, will remain in jail after a judge released him into police custody at a bond hearing this morning. Wednesday.
Gillis was one of the passengers in the car that accidentally swerved into the wrong driveway Saturday while looking for a friend’s house in rural upstate New York. As the group realized their mistake and began to leave, Kevin Monahan, 65, fired a shot from his front porch, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said at a news conference Monday.
It is believed that no one got out of the car and there was no interaction between Monahan and those in the vehicle before the shots were fired, Murphy said.
Kevin Monahan, 65.
Monahan faces one count of manslaughter in connection with Gillis’s death. He entered the courtroom on Wednesday wearing a dark suit and shackles on his feet and around his waist.
Prosecutors argued that the man’s compulsive and confrontational temperament should be taken into account and requested that Monahan be returned to police custody without bail.
Monahan’s attorney, Kurt Mausert, said at the bond hearing that his client should have been paroled because he had never been arrested or convicted in New York state and has been a New York state resident for more than 30 years.
“He has no criminal convictions,” Mausert said. “He has significant ties to the community … the roots in this community for him and his wife run deep.”
The attorney disputed the sheriff’s description of events, saying there were several vehicles revving their engines and coming up the Monahan driveway at “a high rate of speed.”
He said his client was sorry and felt “horrible that a girl’s life was lost.”
“Kaylin deserves justice”
The victim’s father, Andy Gillis, called for justice on Wednesday, describing his daughter as an “intelligent, kind and caring” young woman who dreamed of becoming a marine biologist or veterinarian.
“For this man to sit on his porch and shoot a car with no threat is just … (that) makes me so mad, and I just hope to God that he dies in jail,” Gillis said after Monahan’s bail hearing. “Kaylin deserves justice.”
“Kaylin’s two younger sisters… are going to have to grow up without her older sister,” the father added through tears. “My wife Angel will have to spend the rest of her life without her baby.”
In an earlier statement, Gillis’s family described her as a “talented artist, honor student, Disney fan” who loved animals and was eager to start college in Florida.
“We thought we were heading in the right direction”
About two rows in the courtroom were filled with Gillis’s friends and family on Wednesday.
Blake Walsh, Gillis’s boyfriend, was also there with his mother and was seen being comforted by many people throughout the process.
This Tuesday night, Walsh told NBC in a phone interview that he, Gillis and two friends were looking for a party, adding that four other friends were traveling in another vehicle and also went the wrong way.
“We thought we were heading in the right direction,” Walsh told NBC. “We didn’t have any cell service to solve it. As soon as we realized we were in the wrong place, we started to leave, and that’s when it all happened.”
“My friend said: ‘They’re shooting, go ahead!’ I tried to hit the accelerator as fast as I could, and that’s when the fatal shot was fired,” Walsh told NBC.
“I want to believe it was instant. I hope it was. I pray that it is so,” she added.
Andy Gillis said Walsh “wanted to marry my daughter”, adding that he “would have loved” for the couple.
CNN’s Steve Coppin contributed to this report
