this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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Kevin Monahan, 65, shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis after a car she was riding in with friends made a wrong turn on his property

A man was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday for fatally shooting a young woman when the SUV she was riding in mistakenly drove up his rural driveway in upstate New York.

A jury found Kevin Monahan, 66, guilty of second-degree murder for shooting 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis on a Saturday night last April after she and her friends pulled into his long, curving driveway near the Vermont border while they were trying to find another house.

The group’s caravan of two cars and a motorcycle began leaving once they realized their mistake. Authorities said Monahan came out to his porch and fired twice from his shotgun, with the second shot hitting Gillis in the neck as she sat in the front passenger seat of an SUV driven by her boyfriend.

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[–] [email protected] 234 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

Good. What kind of a fucking psychopath sees a car of lost young people and decides, instead of offering directions or at worst leaving them the fuck alone, that they deserve assault with a deadly weapon?

Goddamn deranged.

[–] [email protected] 130 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 39 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Well that's one less that can't vote for him.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Which itself is kinda fucked up but that's a separate issue.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Years of "fear the other, they're coming for you" Fox News.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 9 months ago (3 children)

An old, sweet lady was once talking to my wife about the blackout curtains in our bedroom. She says she bought some like it so "antifa couldn't see inside" her house.

It makes me so angry that Fox News convinced her to be scared of a boogyman.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 9 months ago

Someone who has been conditioned by decades of fear propaganda, and taught that his guns are the only thing standing between him and the government/immigrants/criminals/whatever the fear of the day is

[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Oh it's worse than that, they were already leaving when he came out and shot them.

oh and this bullshit excuse:

He said he tripped over nails sticking up from the deck, lost his balance and the shotgun struck the deck. That, he said, accidentally caused his gun to fire at the Ford Explorer carrying Gillis.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The first shot was an accident. Obviously the second shot was to prove to them that the first one was an accident cuz if he were trying to shoot them, then he'd just shoot them. He probably tried shouting those words, but realized they were too far so he just had to show them what a great shot he was when he was trying by actually shooting one of them.

Totally innocent miscommunication.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (4 children)

The only thing about this I can somewhat understand is that it wasnt one car, it was two cars and a motorcycle. I would probably be a bit scared if such a big group of people suddenly show up to my rural house.

But 1. shooting them, and 2. while they were already driving away, is what makes this so deranged.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (5 children)

WTF is going on in your life that cars coming up your driveway would scare you? Really?!

You think that some death squad has your number and they sent the whole gang?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This is the nature of widespread gun ownership. Owning a gun turns every argument, every perceived wrong, every bruised ego into a potentially deadly situation. Buying a gun, "for protection," is the dumbest fucking statement I've ever heard. Increasing the number of guns laying around ALWAYS creates a more dangerous environment.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

I'm an instacart driver and at least a few times a week I get the wrong driveway but then figure it out very quickly. This shit goes through my mind every single time.

That's just the country I live in. I pulled into the wrong driveway and I instantly wonder idly if this is going to lead to my fucking death.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

Okay, sure, but have you ever even considered uparmoring your car and mounting an automatic weapon to it? It’s like people never even played Car Wars. With some armor and a SAW they could have practiced their rights, and with a .50 they probably could have cut his house in half.

I mean, gas costs will go up with the additional weight and you need additional crew members to serve the weapons, but that’s the price of freedom.

Alternatively, you could try delivering the groceries by trebuchet from the back of a flatbed truck, but the automatic weapon thing is less likely to result in them cancelling the tip.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Bro, I hate to go all American but if i could drive some twisted metal shit I would in a fucking hearbeat. And I probably wouldn't kill that many people. Most would deserve it. Pinky promise.

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[–] [email protected] 103 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (11 children)

I wrote a post on Nextdoor.com about this sort of situation. "Use of force" laws in my state, with a few easy-to-digest links and quotes.

Post basically said, "Your rights may not be what you think they are, and if you fuck up, you may find yourself in a concrete and steel box for life."

Nothing combative, controversial, derogatory, political or non-factual. Shot down within 30-minutes for being "insulting". Yeah. LOL, I even quoted Masad Ayoob, a world-class expert on the subject, and quite conservative if you read between the lines. Not good enough around here.

I'm a LiberalGunNut™ who studies these things. I have guns at the ready, in my home, and sometimes on my person. It behooves me to know the law.

Part of the reason I wrote that post:

A man had been seen on another man's lot fucking about, trying to get in an empty trailer. A lot next door, not the shooter's domicile.

Next night, the shooter setup a chair just inside the tree line and hunted. When the other man came back, he popped 5-rounds of 5.56 at him (AR-15). Hit him a time or two, guy lived.

Next day the cops question the shooter. He lies, gets his story mixed up, gets arrested for 2nd-degree attempted murder. Well, fucking obviously!

About 40% of the Nextdoor.com comments defended the shooter. To sum: The homeowner saw a man trying to break into an empty trailer, on the homeowner's land, hid himself the next evening and decided to execute this man for trespass when he came back. Think on that. Death for breaking into an empty trailer.

I'll tell you what my conceal-carry instructor told us, a very conservative gun nut. "If you pull your weapon, you're shooting to kill. Whatever situation you're trying to stop, be aware, think, is it worth 20-years, maybe life, behind bars? Because that may well be the outcome, not matter how justified you think you are in the moment."

[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Honestly I think my biggest frustration with guns in America is the culture around them. When I was a kid learning about guns in scouts you didn't get to touch one till you'd learned what felt like 12 different times what the rules are and how to be a responsible gun owner and it feels like so many people really needed that handling.

Sorry to hear you live in an area where people's perspective on guns is that they're entitled to attempting murder with a deadly weapon if anyone interacts with them in a way they don't like. That wouldn't exactly make me very comfortable with the folks I live around

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)

seems like some folks just get really excited about guns and they want a situation to use them in so bad

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago (5 children)

If the problem for you is that you could go to jail, rather than that someone else dies - I don't know what to tell you.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (3 children)

As another Liberal gunowner with a carry permit, what nearly everyone with a defensive firearm seldom understands, is even IF it's a "righteous shoot", it's going to cost well north of a $100,000 dollars to prove it in court. If nothing else, it would be financial ruin for the overwhelming majority of those people who are most vocal about self-defense that want to mentally play Rambo.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (8 children)

I made a post, as a lawyer, about some of the common law rules for self defense, five months ago, and I still get replies from people who don't like the truth:

Deadly force is never authorized to protect property.

An intruder standing in your living room with no weapon or other outward sign of aggression is not a deadly threat and you will be charged with murder if you kill him.

People cannot handle this.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

When people have the wrong idea in their head it's so exhausting to change their mind. You need to treat them like delicate children. Like I believe you should debate respectfully and not be condescending, but most people are so sensitive you need to bend over backwards to bring up facts in a ridiculously delicate way. Meanwhile they'll bring up absolute bullshit in the most rude and condescending way possible, often just leaving arguments out completely and just cussing you out. Discourse is completely broken.

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If only those kids had had enough of their own guns, this tragedy could have been avoided. Somehow. I guess. That's how it works, right? More guns?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago

Since the late 1800s, 494 MILLION firearms have been produced and sold in the US. That's way more than one per person, including babies and toddlers.

when's it gonna be enough I wonder?

Maybe it really isn't about more guns, just more profits for the arms dealers? Maybe we could skip the middle-men and dead children murdered in their schools if we just pay off the arms dealers?

[–] [email protected] 83 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So guy claims he felt threatened, didn’t call cops, grabbed gun instead and expects people aren’t just going to assume he’s being a gun nut when he acts exactly like one?

[–] [email protected] 48 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Felt threatened in the time it took them to turn around. Jesus tapdancing christ on a cracker what a fucking snowflake with a hair trigger.

How does somebody like this make it through the day without meds?!?

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 9 months ago (4 children)

He claimed the gun just went off when he tripped and fell. Fortunately the jury didn’t buy his defense.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 9 months ago

I could not believe that when I read it.

Pathetic, not even capable of accepting responsibility for his own actions.

I would imagine he will not be apologizing to the family either.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

I feel like castle laws would have been a better defense than that shit 😂

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I hope he rots the rest of his life away behind bars.

Such a miserable, worthless excuse for a human being to fucking execute someone for having the wrong directions.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It's gotten to the point where firearm related murders in the US is practically natural causes, it happens so often... Whoever thought it would be a good idea to flood the country with guns is an absolute moron.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

He's not a moron. He's a very rich psychopath.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

It is natural causes. This is the natural and probable result of giving fragile human beings access to killing machine.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Per the NBC article, it took them an hour to arrest the guy:

When officers arrived at Monahan’s house to investigate the shooting, he refused to come out, Murphy said. Authorities spoke with him through a 911 dispatcher and in person for about an hour before he was taken into custody, according to the sheriff.

How wild is that

[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That sounds like good police work. They knew where the person was, went to the area, and used their words to resolve the situation. If only all cops could show this kind of restraint and patience when apprehending a suspect...

[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (3 children)

He wasn't an unarmed black person so they couldn't shoot him.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago

America. Yay.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago

Execute the motherfucker to show these fucks the barrel points both ways. Set an example. Fucking lunatics.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Oh no he won’t be able to vote for tump

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