Kevin Cooper, of Rockville Centre, 2 sons face charges after shooting, fight

A Rockville Centre man and his two sons are facing weapons and assault charges after police said gunshots were fired during an altercation Saturday, sending two people to the hospital.

Nassau County police said multiple people were fighting at the apartment complex on Old Mill Court in Rockville Centre when Kevin Cooper, 56, accidentally fired a 9-mm Taurus handgun around 4:40 p.m., causing the crowd to disperse and leaving him wounded.

As people began fleeing, police said, Cooper's 34-year-old son, Kevin S. Cooper Jr., pointed a different gun at a 50-year-old woman.

Cooper Jr. then struck the woman in the head with the loaded .22-caliber American Tactical handgun and handed the weapon to his brother, Devin Cooper, 27, who fired two shots toward a man running away, police said.

Police did not specify how many people were involved in the fight, but said they knew one another.

Authorities said the elder Cooper had been carrying the 9-mm gun inside his sweatshirt pocket. He was taken to the hospital with injuries to his abdomen.

The woman was hospitalized with head injuries, according to police.

Detectives said both firearms were recovered and that all three men are residents of the complex.

They are each facing two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Cooper Jr. faces an additional charge of second-degree assault. He was to be arraigned Sunday with his brother, Devin, at First District Court in Hempstead. Police said the elder Cooper would be arraigned “when medically practical.”