A Long Island man fatally shot his ex-wife and her new boyfriend late Wednesday night, police said.
Daniel Coppola, 50, killed Kelly Coppola, 50, and Kenneth Pohlman, 53, at a home they shared in St. James, Suffolk County police said in a press release.
Investigators learned Daniel and Kelly Coppola had recently gone through a contentious divorce, 1010 WINS reported. The two also shared a 15-year-old daughter.
Daniel Coppola arrived at the home late Wednesday night, knowing his ex-wife, Pohlman and his daughter were inside, according to police. He then convinced his daughter to leave the home with him, cops said.
“He went to the house on Brasswood Road, picked the girl up, put her in his car, committed the murders, drove her from there to Harbor Road,” Suffolk County police officer Kevin Beyrer said Thursday at a press conference.
“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.’”
The friends tried to contact Kelly Coppola and called 911 when they couldn’t reach her, Beyrer said. Officers arrived at the home to find Pohlman and Kelly Coppola dead from gunshot wounds.
The daughter also called police and said Daniel Coppola had threatened to kill himself, according to Patch. Officers arrested Coppola on Harbor Road around 11:45 p.m.
Coppola was detained for a mental health evaluation and was booked at Suffolk County jail on two counts of second-degree murder, according to authorities.
Police said the divorce had already been finalized and Coppola’s attack was not part of a custody dispute, Patch reported.