New Details Emerge in Deadly Upstate Shooting of Woman in Wrong Driveway

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

New Details Emerge in Deadly Upstate Shooting of Woman in Wrong Driveway
The man who fired on three vehicles that mistakenly drove up his driveway, killing a young woman, had a reputation as a sour character who did not like visitors.

HEBRON, N.Y. — The man who lived on the ridge above this little upstate town had long had a reputation among some residents as a sour character who barked at neighbors’ dogs, scolded a local church and was so averse to unannounced visitors that he had at one time used a chain to cordon off his quarter-mile-long drive.



Mr. Monahan’s long driveway is off this largely dirt road.Credit...Benjamin Cleeton for The New York Times



Albany, several residents recalled Mr. Monahan as a dyspeptic and sometimes combative personality.

Mr. Matthews said that Mr. Monahan could be intimidating, striking a “righteous” attitude, and recalled an incident where a local church had put up floodlights over a basketball court thousands of feet from his home.

But, he said, Mr. Monahan — whose home has a porch and floor-to-ceiling windows with a commanding view of the valley, and the church, below — suspected something sinister.

“He felt that they had done it intentionally,” Mr. Matthews said. “This is the church, you know? It’s not like somebody set a spotlight up to highlight his house.”

Brian Campbell, the town supervisor, said in a blogpost that the shooting had deeply affected his “very quiet and tranquil town.”

He added: “I can’t even fathom what would make a person shoot at a car that was in their driveway if they didn’t even know the people in the car.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/nyregion/kaylin-gillis-ny-shooting.html

[ShazzieB]

1. Sounds like he was a "You kids get off my lawn!" type, on an epic scale.

Also sounds like putting him behind bars will remove a lot of stress from the lives of a large number of people.

[AllyCat]

10. Yup.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

2. Imagine how the rest of world must be viewing America these days...Guns, Coups and Defamations.

Any other nation would have a Do Not Travel! warning label firmly attached!

…gun violence out of control
…federal and local political instability
…former President, still one parties leader, under criminal indictment and multiple criminal investigations
…massive budgetary deficits
…inability to pass long term spending
…annual threat of sovereign debt default
…half of federal spending on military and security
…media monopolies, homogeneous major media

Etc.

It’s not a pretty picture!

Beacon on a hill?? More like, see that beacon?…RUN!

[malaise]

4. THIS

and the media and MAGAts still screaming USA USA!

[jimfields33]

6. Half the military spending in the budget is a positive for foreign countries.

It just means less they have to spend especially if they are our allies. I’m sure they aren’t too mad about that.

[jimfields33]

27. Well it's a thing to do to keep the peace.

I’m all about military spending. I know many think it’s too much but it keeps the world in check mostly.

[jimfields33]

30. Cool! Glad you agree. Nice once in awhile.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

49. Hundred of thousands of dead Iraqi citizens would probably have preferred America have kept out

and not started a war based on lies…but Americans in America were safe enough.

To me that’s the opposite of keeping the peace.

[niyad]

9. Haven't some countries actually issued travel advisories, though not actual bans?

[Richard D]

14. Yes.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/travel-warnings-other-countries-us-violence/index.html

[3auld6phart]

12. Aye

You got that right. A sad state of affairs. Trigger happy cops. Slimy six Supreme court justices

[EX500rider]

34. "Any other nation would have a Do Not Travel! warning label firmly attached"

Should the 60 countries with a higher homicide rate also have "do not travel" warnings?

Like Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Seychelles, Panama etc?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

half of federal spending on military and security

More like 16%

[gratuitous]

37. Interesting chart

Any of our spending dedicated to servicing debt?

[EX500rider]

38. Well 9% is miscellaneous

[gratuitous]

39. The Treasury Department pegs it at 12%

Link here.

The chart you posted would appear to be in need of updating.

[progressoid]

40. Poster should have specified Federal *discretionary* spending only

Although that has actually fallen in the last few years to under half.

[Phoenix61]

42. The vast majority of those homicides are due to drug trafficking.

“Costa Rican authorities classified 421 of last year's 657 homicides as "score settling."
Former Security Minister Gustavo Mata estimated that 80% of the killings in Costa Rica were related to the growth in drug trafficking.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/drug-trafficking-blamed-homicides-soar-in-costa-rica/

It’s not the same thing as what is happening here.

[EX500rider]

44. And the figures I've seen say about 70% plus of American homicides

...are gang and drug related.

The murders that make the news in the US are a tiny fraction of the overall homicides.

[Phoenix61]

46. It's the mass shootings that set the US apart. nt

[EX500rider]

47. I believe about 1% of US homicides

And I'm not sure 20 people dead in different locations is any less sadder than 20 people dead in one location on the same day.

[Phoenix61]

48. The reality is it happened once in Australia. The country

decided it would never happen again.
“Within four months of the tragedy, the recently elected conservative coalition government under John Howard had orchestrated a tightening of Australia’s state and territory gun laws, which are now some of the strictest in the world.“

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/port-arthur-massacre

[RAB910]

3. These are the kinds of dangerous monsters the GOP and NRA are arming to the teeth

[Walleye]

7. Tens of thousands of gun deaths per year so we can preserve the second amendment

I think if the founders who wrote that were alive today, they’d think we were insane for not having amended it by now

[Walleye]

19. I think you're right, that they would have. They would be appalled

[underpants]

8. It's like people think they are Yosemite Sam

BLAM BLAM

This but did have signs but these kids thought they were going to someone’s house they knew or that it was okay for them to be there until they realized their mistake.

From the article
They soon took a right turn into his drive, which is flanked by a tree with two worn “private property” signs, warning off trespassers, and a small “private drive” sign.

[Orrex]

11. In my work I meet a disturbing number of these "sour characters"

They often have detailed and elaborate notions of when, exactly, they’d be justified in shooting someone. Typically it’s for such major transgressions as unexpectedly arriving on the shooter’s property.

One guy explained that he’s be fully justified in killing a 14 year old who rode his 4-wheeler through a wooded area that the guy claims to own. Another wanted an automated, motion-triggered gun turret stop his barn, to kill anyone who comes on his property unannounced.

It is ALWAYS older white guys who tell me these things. Typically they’re single, divorced, or widowed, and very often they’re pretty well off financially. But harboring serious murder fantasies.

I can see how one of them would shoot someone who pulled into his driveway or stepped onto his porch, and the shooter would feel 100% justified.

[Walleye]

20. Doctors should screen for homicidal ideation

[Orrex]

24. That would definitely be a full time job

And what about FREEDOM!!!!!1!!

[Walleye]

25. Well I know since my depression treatment I've always been asked about suicidal ideation

People who think about it and imagine it sometimes end up doing it, same thing with homicide

[Orrex]

51. I get asked about suicidal thoughts at every checkup

And that's with no history of such thoughts.

I guess the problem is that the assholes I run into have enough self-awareness to hold off on their murder talk until they get comfortable with my presence doing work in the home. Clearly they have the ability to keep it under wraps, so a medical professional would have to frame the question with great subtlety.

[f_townsend]

26. Sounds like the story of the Las Vegas mass shooter

No question there's more of them out there, too.

[Aviation Pro]

13. That house should be razed

The driveway allowed to go feral and his entire property converted to a wild space with the exception of wireless cameras that live stream to televisions in his cell to show how 'his' property and legacy is being reduced to nothing.

Fuck this troll, I hope he's never visited in prison.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

33. need to sell the house and land to settle with parents

[Renew Deal]

18. I wouldn't be shocked if this is another mind poisoned by Fox News and right wing media.

[Walleye]

22. I remember that guy at a right wing rally can't remember who, he said when do we get to use the guns

[Renew Deal]

28. They probably also want to use the emergency food buckets Alex Jones was selling

[Sancho]

21. People Control, Not Gun Control

This is my generic response to gun threads where people are shot and killed by the dumb or criminal possession of guns. For the record, I grew up in the South and on military bases. I was taught about firearms as a child, and I grew up hunting, was a member of the NRA, and I still own guns. In the 70’s, I dropped out of the NRA because they become more radical and less interested in safety and training. Some personal experiences where people I know were involved in shootings caused me to realize that anyone could obtain and posses a gun no matter how illogical it was for them to have a gun. Also, easy access to more powerful guns, guns in the hands of children, and guns that weren’t secured are out of control in our society. As such, here’s what I now think ought to be the requirements to possess a gun. I’m not debating the legal language, I just think it’s the reasonable way to stop the shootings. Notice, none of this restricts the type of guns sold. This is aimed at the people who shoot others, because it’s clear that they should never have had a gun.

1.) Anyone in possession of a gun (whether they own it or not) should have a regularly renewed license. If you want to call it a permit, certificate, or something else that's fine.
2.) To get a license, you should have a background check, and be examined by a professional for emotional and mental stability appropriate for gun possession. It might be appropriate to require that examination to be accompanied by references from family, friends, employers, etc. This check is not to subject you to a mental health diagnosis, just check on your superficial and apparent gun-worthyness.
3.) To get the license, you should be required to take a safety course and pass a test appropriate to the type of gun you want to use.
4.) To get a license, you should be over 21. Under 21, you could only use a gun under direct supervision of a licensed person and after obtaining a learner’s license. Your license might be restricted if you have children or criminals or other unsafe people living in your home. (If you want to argue 18 or 25 or some other age, fine. 21 makes sense to me.)
5.) If you possess a gun, you would have to carry a liability insurance policy specifically for gun ownership - and likely you would have to provide proof of appropriate storage, security, and whatever statistical reasons that emerge that would drive the costs and ability to get insurance.
6.) You could not purchase a gun or ammunition without a license, and purchases would have a waiting period.
7.) If you possess a gun without a license, you go to jail, the gun is impounded, and a judge will have to let you go (just like a DUI).
8.) No one should carry an unsecured gun (except in a locked case, unloaded) when outside of home. Guns should be secure when transporting to a shooting event without demonstrating a special need. Their license should indicate training and special carry circumstances beyond recreational shooting (security guard, etc.). If you are carrying your gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you lose your gun and license.
9.) If you buy, sell, give away, or inherit a gun, your license information should be recorded.
10.) If you accidentally discharge your gun, commit a crime, get referred by a mental health professional, are served a restraining order, etc., you should lose your license and guns until reinstated by a serious relicensing process.

Most of you know that a license is no big deal. Besides a driver’s license you need a license to fish, operate a boat, or many other activities. I realize these differ by state, but that is not a reason to let anyone without a bit of sense pack a semiautomatic weapon in public, on the roads, and in schools. I think we need to make it much harder for some people to have guns.

[Phoenix61]

31. Wrong. It's the guns!!!!! It seems you have this in a file

that you can cut and paste because you share it on a regular basis. I’ve commented repeatedly # 2 will never happen. There’s not a licensed mental health person who would sign off on someone be “gun worthy” because there’s no such thing. How many times have we read that friends and neighbors are shocked because they never saw it coming.
IT’S! THE! GUNS!!!!!!

[Sancho]

32. Sorry, but I disagree...

...and I've worked as a licensed professionals. There is also no such thing as a "good driver personality" either, but there are still eye exams to get a driver's license! People with certain histories and situations could and should be denied a license for GUNS because they are an increased danger.

At any rate, if a person had to PRODUCE a valid license to buy a bullet, go to a shooting range, go hunting, get homeowners insurance, etc., then the GUNS would be more expensive and difficult to use - and dangerous people would find it harder to possess them.

Noting is full proof, but right now the DANGEROUS PEOPLE should not have EASY access to GUNS!

That's what the license would do, and everything on the list would be constitutional.

[Phoenix61]

41. DANGEROUS PEOPLE are the ones with guns. That's what

every single shooter had in common. They had a gun. It really is that simple.

[Straw Man]

43. Simply not true.

DANGEROUS PEOPLE are the ones with guns. That's what

every single shooter had in common. They had a gun. It really is that simple.

Yes, you can't shoot someone if you don't have a gun. That's a meaningless truism.

You're not going to make guns magically disappear. There are millions of harmless gun owners in this country. The most practical, efficient, and ethically justifiable course of action would be to carefully screen people who wish to own a gun: licensure, if you will. Some states already do it for handguns.

[Phoenix61]

45. You are right. Magic doesn't work. Laws do. "Screen people"

What does that even mean? Screen them for what? Most of the mass shooters bought their guns legally. One in Texas should not have been able to buy one but the AF dropped the ball and a DV conviction wasn’t reported.

[Straw Man]

50. You answered your own question.

What does that even mean? Screen them for what? Most of the mass shooters bought their guns legally.

And mass shooters are only a tiny percentage of the gun violence in America. Screen them for what? For criminal history, violent incidents and rhetoric, mental instability: the usual.

One in Texas should not have been able to buy one but the AF dropped the ball and a DV conviction wasn’t reported.

Right: a failure of screening. Apparently you did know what I meant. Why did you pretend you didn't?

[Phoenix61]

53. I'll try again. Rhetoric? Mental Instability?

How do you suggest we screen for mental instability? Screen for rhetoric? What does that even mean? People want to think that those people who do bad things are recognizably different from everyone else and the reality is most of the time they aren’t. The guy who murdered a girl for being in his driveway or ringing a doorbell…all legal gun owners and the list goes on and on and on.

IT’S THE GUNS!!!

[Straw Man]

55. What does it mean?

How do you suggest we screen for mental instability? Screen for rhetoric? What does that even mean?

New York's newest gun law requires applicants for a pistol permit to provide access to their social media accounts going back three years, for ... screening. Y'know, to see if the person has espoused violence and stuff like that. The process also requires four character references and a background check.

People want to think that those people who do bad things are recognizably different from everyone else and the reality is most of the time they aren’t.

Actually, most of the time they are. The upstate New York shooter had a history of paranoid and combative behavior. The guy in Texas who shot a BLM protester had declared, in social media posts, his willingness to carry out such an action. The Nashville school shooter was under a doctor's care for an "emotional disorder."

Just a rhetorical tip: Using all caps and multiple exclamation points doesn't make your arguments any stronger.

[Phoenix61]

56. Because they are going to allow access to all their accounts.

It’s not like anyone would post something under an alias. Yes, character references are great and they would definitely screen out the most obvious people who shouldn’t have a gun. But that still leaves all those other, seemingly normal people with ready access to one.

[Phoenix61]

54. I'll try again. Rhetoric? Mental Instability?

How do you suggest we screen for mental instability? Screen for rhetoric? What does that even mean? People want to think that those people who do bad things are recognizably different from everyone else and the reality is most of the time they aren’t. The guy who murdered a girl for being in his driveway or ringing a doorbell…all legal gun owners and the list goes on and on and on.

IT’S THE GUNS!!!

[Walleye]

23. Many other countries have lots of guns, and mental illness as much as we do

The one thing that separates these countries from ours, with 40000 gun fatalities a year, Is the goddamn second amendment and there’s just no argument to that

[maxsolomon]

35. Dyspeptic Nation

This old fuck is getting a Murder 2 charge. He better hope he can prove he's cognitively impaired or he's never getting out.

If he knew about Sweden's "Allemansrätten" his brain would explode.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

36. ...and he's going to have to sell that property to pay for attorneys.