A “maniac” divorcé” gunned down his ex-wife and her beau inside their million-dollar Long Island home Wednesday — then chillingly told his daughter her mother was dead, cops and family said.
Daniel Coppola, 50, allegedly broke open the front door and blasted the couple — Kelly Coppola, 50, and Kenneth Pohlman, 53 — while they slept in their St. James home around 11:45 p.m., according to law enforcement sources and Pohlman’s kin.
Moments earlier, he warned his daughter to stay in his car outside 21 Brasswood Road.
“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.
Daniel Coppola fatally shot his ex-wife, Kelly Coppola, after a bitter divorce battle. Facebook/Kelly Coppola
Kenneth Pohlman was shot dead inside his million-dollar St. James home. Facebook/Kenneth Pohlman
“[He] came back and told his daughter, ‘I killed your mother and Kenny.’ That’s what he told her.”
Daniel Coppola then fled the gruesome scene while the shocked teen — whom he shared with his ex-wife — reached out to her pals, Detective Lt. Kevin 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 pals called her mom but were unable to get in touch with her — leading them to call 911.
Daniel Coppola was later arrested at his St. James home about a mile away from the blood-soaked scene and is under mental evaluation after making suicidal statements, police said. He’s been slapped with two counts of second-degree murder, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The couple’s divorce was finalized about a year or two ago, according to a friend. Facebook/Kelly Coppola
Kelly Coppola was murdered by her ex-husband in her million-dollar home, police say. Dennis A. ClarkThe bloodshed came after the former couple finalized their divorce 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 said there was no order of protection issued against the bitter ex, but they were called for a non-criminal dispute between the pair while they were married.
Meanwhile, Pohlman’s family referred to the former husband as an abusive “maniac.”
“From what she would say, he abused her,” Kenneth Pohlman’s grieving brother, Tom Pohlman, told reporters.
Coppola reportedly broke into the St. James home. Dennis A. Clark
Investigators at a home at 21 Brasswood Road in Suffolk County. Kelly Coppola, 50, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Pohlman, 53, who lived at the residence, were shot by Coppola’s ex-husband, Daniel Coppola. News12Pohlman met Kelly after losing his wife to cancer several years ago, his brother said.
His family remembered him as a romantic who plastered love letters on his bedroom wall.
Kelly Coppola and Pohlman shared the six-bedroom, four-bath, $1.1 million home, officials said.
A friend of Pohlman’s, Geoff Boyle, remembered him as a “great family man” and “awesome workout buddy.”
“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 grappling 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?”
