A Long Island man was arrested for allegedly shooting his ex-wife and her boyfriend to death inside their home, after calling his teen daughter to warn her to leave.
The sound of gunshots pierced the air in the quiet hamlet of St. James after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police said that Daniel Coppola went to the home on Brasswood Road of his ex-wife Kelly Coppola and her partner Kenneth Pohlman and fired the deadly shots.
“Two bullets into the door to get into the house and then multiple bullets upstairs,” said an angry and distraught Tom Pohlman, whose 53-year-old brother Kenneth was killed.
Officers later found Kenneth and Kelly in the house, dead from gunshot wounds. Before Coppola pulled the trigger, however, he called his 15-year-old daughter and instructed her to not be in the house, according to police.
“He reached out to her, told her to get out of the house. He then went into the house and committed these murders,” said Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer.
At first, the teen didn’t know what her father had done as she sat in the car with him, according to Beyrer. But as they drove his home a few miles away, she put out a cry for help.
“She is communicating with friends via text saying ‘I don’t know what my father did. I don’t know how my mother is,'” Beyrer said.
Coppola later threatened to kill himself at his own home, according to police. But after his daughter called 911, police took him into custody without incident. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
Attorney information for Coppola was not immediately clear.
Suffolk County investigators said Coppola previously went through a contentious divorce with his ex-wife Kelly, 50.
“He was a jealous ex-husband. My brother made [Coppola’s] ex-wife happy and he was not happy about that…When they first started dating a year ago, there were numerous, there were numerous threats,” said Pohlman. “She brought the best out of him, he brought the best out of her. They were very happy.”
Pohlman’s father also said that Coppola had threatened his son
Investigators were seen at the house for much of the day Thursday. Police have not yet said what may have led Coppola to firing the deadly shots.
