Daniel Coppola, a Long Island man accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife and her boyfriend in their home last week, attempted to die by suicide this week while in jail, according to reports.
Coppola was in custody at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility on suicide watch when he threw himself down a flight of stairs some time on Sunday, according to multiple reports.
Newsday first reported the incident.
“I can confirm that Monday an inmate was injured during a self inflicted incident,” Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Vicki DiStefano told the Daily News. “Correction Officers responded quickly and appropriately to get him the medical treatment he needed. He was transported to a local hospital. The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office is unable to comment further on any incarcerated individual’s medical conditions or status.”
Coppola allegedly went to the home shared by Kelly Coppola, 50, and Kenneth Pohlman, 53, home in St. James late on the night of Aug. 28 and convinced his 15-year-old daughter Gianna to leave the home and get in his car, Suffolk County police 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.’”
Before driving off, Coppola had “ambushed and executed” the couple in a hallway after shooting his way inside the house.
According to Patch, the man threatened to kill himself in front of his daughter before he was arrested around 11:45 p.m. that same night back at his home on Harbor Road.
Daniel and Kelly Coppola had recently gone through a contentious divorce. Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Eric Aboulafia said Coppola had intended to kill the lawyers involved in the divorce proceedings, including his own attorney.
He had also written a letter declaring himself of “sound mind” and fully aware of what he was planning to do.
At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
