State Police arrested Chester, New York highway superintendent John J. Reilly — relationship to actor John C. Reilly unknown — on Saturday for allegedly shooting a lost DoorDash driver who had simply been looking for directions. Thankfully, the driver is expected to survive, although the shooting left him with “serious physical injuries,” the Times Union reports. Reilly now faces three felonies, including first-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm.
According to a release from the State Police, the shooting took place on Friday night when the driver got lost and had issues with the app. He then tried to get directions from multiple homes in the neighborhood before trying Reilly’s house. Reilly told the driver to get off his property, but even though the driver attempted to do exactly that, Reilly fired multiple shots, one of which hit him in the back. The release also notes that, in addition to being the Town of Chester Highway Superintendent, Reilly is also a federally licensed firearms dealer. He remains in the Orange County jail in lieu of $250,000 cash, a $500,000 bond, or a $750,000 partially secured bond.
As previously mentioned, the driver is expected to survive, but he also never should’ve been shot in the first place because getting lost and asking for directions is not a crime. And if this had been a one-off incident, that would have been one thing. Sadly, it isn’t, leaving us once again begging you not to shoot lost or stranded drivers simply asking for help. You don’t have to do it. I promise. They’ll be better off, and so will you. In Reilly’s case, first-degree assault is a Class B felony in New York and carries a five-to-25-year sentence if convicted.
Ending lives and ruining others
No one’s perfect. People make mistakes. Sometimes, they miss the sign raising the speed limit. Sometimes, they have to brake hard to avoid missing their turn. And sometimes, they go to the wrong house. None of these is remotely worth escalating with physical violence, and yet, people do. Two years ago, we saw so many similar situations in such a short period of time, instead of covering those stories individually, I had to roll four of them into one post. While most of the victims, including 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who was shot in the head, survived, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis did not.
Kevin Monahan, the 65-year-old man who killed Gillis, didn’t just senselessly murder an innocent young woman who accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway. He also ruined his own life and will likely die in prison. The Times Union reports he was found guilty in March 2024 and sentenced to 26.33 years to life, the maximum possible sentence. Even worse, Monahan appeared convinced he did nothing wrong, prompting Judge Adam Michelini to note that, despite the low recidivism rates for convicted murderers, he believed Monahan would do the same thing again if given the chance. “It’s obvious to me that you feel justified. You don’t take any responsibility for the outcome of your actions. You just don’t get it,” Michelini told Monahan when handing out his sentence.
It’s also worth noting that both the Gillis murder and the Reilly case took place in New York, not the South. The depraved desire to find any opportunity or excuse to shoot someone isn’t exclusive to one region of the country, no matter how much many of the people I knew in Boston would probably like to believe. Nor are senseless shootings limited to “Democrat cities,” like many of my neighbors here in Georgia would probably love to believe.
Paranoia is deadly
While it’s hard to wrap our minds around Monahan’s lack of remorse over killing an innocent young woman, it’s no secret where this attitude comes from. It’s the inevitable result of the right-wing media’s obsession with stoking paranoia and spreading lies about an “invasion” of immigrants and gang members, as well as its obsession with crime supposedly being out of control, despite the objective fact that violent crime rates are only a fraction of what they were in the 1990s.
And no matter what the online sea lions would like you to believe, it isn’t normal to shoot someone who simply pulls into the wrong driveway or asks for directions, even if you saw one story on Facebook sometime about someone pretending to be lost so they could do crimes.
This isn’t even about owning guns, either. I may be one of those “libtards” who believes germs are real and that everyone accused of a crime deserves a fair trial, but I’m also incredibly pro-hunting and genuinely enjoy shooting. I was just taught gun safety at a time when we were still more concerned about not hurting innocent people than fantasizing about holding off an entire army of home invaders while beating it to a poster of John Wayne. My dad’s cousin didn’t die because a foreign gang tried to break in. He died from a negligent discharge. And while I don’t know anyone who was murdered with a gun, I have known several who used one to take their own lives.
Real life isn’t an old Western movie
If you think MS-13 is more of a threat to your family than a teenager with depression having access to a loaded firearm, I don’t know what to tell you. The statistics on gun deaths simply aren’t on your side. I guess delete Facebook, stop watching the news and go touch grass? Threats aren’t looming around every corner, especially in your rural suburb. I’ve spent most of my adult life living in cities that are allegedly overrun with crime, and no one has once broken into my apartment or even mugged me, an objectively very muggable person.
The more you buy into the delusion that you’re constantly one moment away from things turning into the shootout at the Golden OK Corral, the more likely it is that you’ll end up like Reilly or Monahan, facing decades in prison for shooting someone who simply pulled into the wrong driveway. If you want real advice, though, stick to the three-part test for using deadly force that former SWAT officer Coach Gooch (yes, that was his real name, and no, I’m not making that up) taught me in high school
According to the Gooch, a justified shooting requires the person in question to have demonstrated the ability to seriously injure or kill you or someone else and the intent to do so, as well as being in close enough proximity to do harm. So, a person threatening you with a gun meets that standard, while someone outside your house with a knife doesn’t. A lost delivery driver asking for directions or a stranger knocking on your door? Absolutely not. And if you disagree, you can take it up with Coach Gooch.
