Neighbors describe hearing shots at Monahan house
On the second full day of testimony of Kevin Monahan’s murder trial, his neighbors recalled seeing the commotion that was taking place at his Hebron residence.
Monahan, 66, of 1263 Patterson Hill Road, is accused of shooting and killing Kaylin Gillis, who was a passenger in a vehicle who had mistakenly turned up his driveway on April 15.
Jill Nadolski, who lives at 1328 Patterson Hill Road, said she can recall seeing two vehicles and a motorcycle going up the hill. She found it a little unusual because the area sees so little traffic.
About five minutes later, she said she heard two gunshots.
“There was no question in my mind they were gunshots,” she said.
Morris asked her about the time difference between the first and second shot.
“Seconds,” she said.
Then, she saw the SUVs coming down the hill at a high rate of speed.
“I stood up and went to my kitchen door and stood there because I thought something is not right. Something is not right here,” she said.
On cross-examination, Frost pointed out the discrepancy of Nadolski telling police she saw two motorcycles and one vehicle.
“It was dark.”
The next witness was Scott Smith, who lives at 1279 Patterson Hill Road. He described sitting outside with his wife under a pavilion. At about 9:45 p.m., he saw a car, motorcycle and another car. They were going at a moderate rate of speed.
“It caused us to observe it because there’s not a lot of traffic on our road. It’s usually a car or a truck. To see three vehicles traveling together was a little unusual, so we paid attention,” he said.
Smith said he saw the vehicles turn into a driveway. He initially thought it was the house next to Monahan’s, but when he saw the vehicles travel around a bend, he knew they were on Monahan’s property.
He saw them stop and then the motorcycle went up a little further before coming back down. It was about 15 to 20 seconds, Smith said.
“When the motorcycle came back down the Monahan residence and paused at the first car, that’s when we heard a pop,” he said.
Then the motorcycle kept going down and the other cars began to turn.
“After about six seconds, we heard a second pop. At that point, both cars were turning and turning back down the driveway,” he said.
Initially, Smith said he did not call 911 because they thought it could have been fireworks or a vehicle backfiring. However, after receiving a call from his neighbor Nadolski reporting hearing gunshots, Smith decided to call 911.
On cross-examination, Frost pointed out that Smith gave a different account of the order in which the vehicles left the Monahan property when he gave a statement to police.
When asked, he said there was no moon and it was rather dark. However, he said he could see the vehicles because of the headlights.
Another neighbor, Monica Bisson, had video of the vehicles captured on her motion camera. She briefly testified, and the videos were entered into evidence.
However, First Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris said he is going to play the videos after he establishes the vehicles that were involved in the incident.