A "maniac" ex-husband opened fire on his ex-wife and her boyfriend inside their million-dollar Long Island home on Wednesday. He then went to his daughter and coldly told her that her mother was dead, according to police and family members.
Daniel Coppola, 50, allegedly shot through the front door and killed the couple — Kelly Coppola, 50, and Kenneth Pohlman, 53 — as they slept in their St. James home around 11:45 p.m., according to law enforcement sources and Pohlman's family. The daughter was inside the house but just before the attack, he warned her and asked her to go and stay in his car outside the home at 21 Brasswood Road.
Killer Husband
Detective Lt. Kevin Breyer stated that the couple's teenage daughter was inside the house before the incident but was warned by her father. "The daughter was in the house and he reached out to her and told her to get out of the house,' he said.
"He leaves her in the car, goes behind the bush ... and evidently he broke down the door, went up [and] did what he did," Pohlman's grieving dad, Kenneth Pohlman Sr., told reporters outside the couple's home.
"[He] came back and told his daughter, 'I killed your mother and Kenny.' That's what he told her."
Daniel Coppola then escaped the horrifying scene while the stunned teenager, whom he had with his ex-wife, contacted her friends, Breyer said.
"As he's driving her, she is communicating with friends via text saying, 'I don't know what my father did. I don't know how my mother is,'" Breyer added.
Her friends tried calling her mother but couldn't reach her, prompting them to call 911.
Daniel Coppola was eventually arrested at his St. James home, roughly a mile from the crime scene, and is undergoing a mental evaluation following his suicidal remarks, according to police.
He has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, as stated by the Suffolk County Police Department.
Daughter Orphaned and Devastated
The violence came after the former couple had finalized their divorce about a year or two ago, according to Breyer. "Apparently the divorce is final [and] apparently it was a contentious divorce," he added, without elaborating.
Police stated that no protective order had been issued against the estranged ex-husband, although they had been called to handle a non-criminal dispute between the couple during their marriage.
In the meantime, Pohlman's family described the former husband as an abusive "maniac."
"From what she would say, he abused her," Kenneth Pohlman's grieving brother, Tom Pohlman said.
Pohlman met Kelly after his previous wife passed away from cancer several years earlier, according to his brother. His family recalled him as a romantic who decorated his bedroom wall with love letters.
Kelly Coppola and Pohlman lived together in a six-bedroom, four-bath, $1.1 million home, officials said. Pohlman's friend, Geoff Boyle, remembered him as a "wonderful family man" and an "excellent workout partner."
"He didn't show up at the gym this morning," he told News 12 Long Island.
"I shot him a text and I got no response from him. Now I know why."
His family was left struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss. "Her ex-husband shot down his door and ran upstairs and shot him and her point blank," Tom Pohlman said.
"How do you wrap your head around it?"
