Daniel Coppola, St. James man charged with fatally shooting ex-wife and her boyfriend, attempts suicide in jail, sources say

A St. James man charged with gunning down his ex-wife and her boyfriend last week was badly injured in an attempt to take his own life while in custody at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility, multiple sources told Newsday.

Daniel Coppola, 50, was hurt in an intentional fall Monday after making his way up a set of stairs at the jail in Riverhead, the sources said.

"We can confirm that yesterday an inmate was injured during a self-inflicted incident," Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Vicki DiStefano said in a Tuesday statement responding to questions from Newsday about the incident, declining to name the inmate. "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."

Lou Viscusi, president of the Suffolk County Correction Officers Association, declined to discuss specifics of the incident, but said his officers "acted within the scope of their training and did everything they were supposed to do."

Coppola’s case was on the calendar in First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday, though he did not appear in court.

A Suffolk grand jury on Tuesday indicted Coppola, who is scheduled to be arraigned on upgraded charges of first-degree murder before acting Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft in Riverhead on Friday, court records show.

Coppola’s defense attorney, David Jason Cohen, did not respond to a request for comment.

Officials declined to explain how an inmate whose attorney had requested to be placed on suicide watch was able to injure himself while in custody or if any agency was looking into the incident.

A spokesperson for Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine declined to comment Tuesday.

Suffolk police said Thursday that Coppola texted his daughter — who was staying with his ex-wife, Kelly Coppola, 50, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Pohlman Jr., 53, in their home on Brasswood Road in St. James — and beckoned her to come out of the house shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Daniel Coppola then shot his way through the lock on the front door and went upstairs, where he "ambushed and executed" the couple in the hallway, Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Eric Aboulafia said at an arraignment Friday, when Coppola pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.

"He put a premeditated plan into action," the prosecutor said. Aboulafia did not identify the teen, but referred to her as an uninvolved witness.

"The uninvolved witness not only placed the suspect at the scene, but she heard the gunshots that took their lives," he said.

The teen placed a 911 call saying she was being taken from her mother’s home, officials said.

Coppola then drove the teen to his Harbor Road address, where he threatened to take his own life with the gun, police said.

The girl again called 911 for help over her father’s suicidal threats, prompting police to respond to Harbor Road, where, according to police, he was recorded on a police officer’s body camera admitting to the killings.

Police also arrived at the Brasswood Road address, where they found the door forced open and the couple dead of gunshot wounds, officials said.

An investigation of Daniel Coppola’s home found a semiautomatic pistol, prosecutors said. They also found a planning document — "a typewritten letter describing in excruciating detail" what he planned to do and justifying his action, "blaming his financial woes on his ex-wife in an attempt to legitimize his actions," prosecutors said.

"The letter states that he had a bullet with the names of each of the attorneys involved in the case," Aboulafia said. "He even had a bullet for his own attorney."

Coppola wrote in the letter: "I am of sound mind and I know exactly what I am going to do."

With Janon Fisher