Enraged Ex-Husband Kills Former Wife and Her New Boyfriend in Their Long Island Home

Devastating Domestic Homicide

In a shock­ing act of vio­lence, a 50-year-old man named Daniel Cop­po­la alleged­ly shot and killed his ex-wife Kel­ly Cop­po­la, 50, and her boyfriend Ken­neth Pohlman, 53, inside their mil­lion-dol­lar home in St. James, Long Island. The bru­tal mur­ders occurred after a bit­ter divorce bat­tle between the for­mer couple.

Chilling Aftermath

Accord­ing to police, Cop­po­la broke down the front door of the home around 11:45 pm and opened fire on the sleep­ing cou­ple. He then returned to his car, where his teenage daugh­ter was wait­ing, and chill­ing­ly told her “I killed your moth­er and Ken­ny.” The daugh­ter then alert­ed her friends, who called 911.

History of Domestic Abuse

Pohlman’s fam­i­ly described Cop­po­la as an “abu­sive mani­ac” and said Kel­ly had con­fid­ed in them about the ex-hus­band’s mis­treat­ment. Police revealed there had been pre­vi­ous non-crim­i­nal dis­putes between the cou­ple dur­ing their mar­riage, though no order of pro­tec­tion had been issued.

Contentious Divorce Proceedings

The Cop­po­las’ divorce was final­ized about a year or two ago, but appar­ent­ly remained high­ly con­tentious. Police said the split was “appar­ent­ly a con­tentious divorce” with­out pro­vid­ing fur­ther details.

Devastating Loss for Victims’ Families

Pohlman was remem­bered by his loved ones as a “great fam­i­ly man” and “awe­some work­out bud­dy” who had found hap­pi­ness with Kel­ly after los­ing his pre­vi­ous wife to can­cer. The tragedy has left both fam­i­lies grap­pling with unimag­in­able grief and loss.