A “hero” father of three who was shot dead in his Long Island mansion tried to protect his girlfriend before they tragically suffered the same gruesome fate.
Kenneth Pohlman, 53, and his partner Kelly Coppola were shot and killed by her ex-husband Daniel Coppola on Wednesday night, according to police.
At St. Elizabeth Church in Melville on Tuesday, Kenneth’s father, Kenneth Sr., told mourners that his son was selfless to the end.
“And my son – and anyone who played football or baseball with Kenny knows this – his last act in life was selfless, trying to protect the woman he loved… my son was a hero,” Kenneth Sr. said. The New York Post reported.
Daniel Coppola, 50, was arrested last Thursday on two counts of murder after Kelly, also 50, and Kenneth were found dead in their St. James home.
Kenneth Pohlman and his new partner, Kelly Coppola, were murdered shortly before midnight in their Long Island home. The perpetrator was allegedly Kelly’s ex-husband, Daniel Coppola.
Daniel Coppola, pictured, shot the happy couple in a fit of rage, prosecutors say
The couple shared a six-bedroom, four-bathroom home valued at $1.1 million in wealthy Suffolk County. They had been dating for more than a year, friends said.
Kenneth’s mother, Dorothy, detailed her son’s life before he met Kelly.
She said he loved sports and met his childhood sweetheart and future wife, Kim, when his family moved to Brentwood, California.
The couple had two children together, Brianna and Tyler, before Kim died of cancer in 2006.
Kenneth Sr. said his son dated other women after his wife died, even fathering another daughter in 2009. But his relationships never got off to a good start until he met Kelly, he said.
“They were soulmates,” Kenneth said. “People called them boyfriend and girlfriend, but they weren’t. If you walked into their house, they were in love.”
Kenneth, pictured, was Kelly’s “soul mate,” his father said at his funeral
Kelly also found great happiness when she met Kenneth, according to her father, John Patton.
“Joy was radiating all around her, she was smiling all the time and for this to happen is a tragedy,” she said. “I can’t even speak. My family, her family, the pain we feel is overwhelming. I just can’t get over this.”
Their killings have shocked residents of this normally quiet community on Long Island’s North Shore.
Police say Daniel Coppola broke into the couple’s home and shot his ex and her new partner in a hallway.
“While they were undressed, he shot them with a semi-automatic pistol, taking their lives,” Deputy District Attorney Eric Aboulafia said in court.
Coppola and Kelly had recently gone through a bitter divorce, and at their arraignment Friday, prosecutors revealed evidence that Coppola had a pent-up murderous rage.
Daniel Coppola is photographed with his ex-wife Kelly, whom police say he murdered.
Aboulafia said investigators found a typewritten letter in Coppola’s home in which he blamed his ex-wife for his financial problems. The letter also allegedly contained plans to kill the lawyer involved in his divorce, including his own.
Aboulafia said investigators found a typewritten letter at Coppola’s home that outlined his plan in “painstaking detail” that clearly showed his “homicidal rage.”
In the letter, he blamed his ex-wife for his financial problems and said he also planned to kill the lawyers involved in their divorce, including his own, with bullets marked for each one.
Coppola’s daughter was in the house when the double murder allegedly occurred.
Authorities say he gave her advance warning and removed her from the home so he could commit the heinous act unhindered.
“The daughter was in the house and he approached her and told her to get out of the house,” Detective Lt. Kevin Breyer said.
‘He picked up the girl, put her in his car, committed the murders and drove her from there to Harbor Road. While he was driving her, she was communicating with her friends via text messages and saying, “I don’t know what my father did. I don’t know how my mother is.”
Coppola was later arrested and reportedly being held for a mental evaluation after making suicidal statements.
Kenneth and Kelly lived in this six-bedroom, four-bathroom home valued at $1.1 million in wealthy Suffolk County.
The couple had been dating for about a year, according to friends.
Kenneth’s oldest daughter, Brianna, said her father “would give you the shirt off his back even if he never met you.”
The devastated families of the victims left the courthouse in tears on Friday.
Kenneth’s heartbroken parents and his brother, Tom, were among those present in the courtroom during Friday’s hearing.
Tom screamed at Coppola as he was led into the courtroom in his prison uniform. Other family members burst into tears.
“My father would give you the shirt off his back even if he never met you,” Kenneth’s eldest daughter Brianna told DailyMail.com outside the courthouse.
The 25-year-old explained that her father “did everything” for her and her siblings, after her mother died of cancer when Brianna was seven.
“Now my brother, my sister and I are orphans,” she cried.
Brianna also explained that Kelly’s daughter had been living with her and her father. Kelly “came in and made that house a home for us,” she said.
She considers Kelly’s daughter her sister and said she “immediately loved” both her and Kelly.
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