Heroic final act by a man from Long Island who was killed along with his girlfriend by her crazy ex in a million dollar villa

A “heroic” father of three who was shot dead in his Long Island mansion tried to protect his girlfriend before they tragically suffered the same cruel fate.

Kenneth Pohlman, 53, and his partner Kelly Coppola were gunned down last Wednesday night by her ex-husband Daniel Coppola, police said.

At St. Elizabeth's Church in Melville, Kenneth's father, Kenneth Sr., told mourners Tuesday that his son was selfless until the end.

“And my son – and everyone who played football or baseball [with] Kenny [knows] – his last act of life was selfless, trying to protect the woman he loved…my son was a hero,” Kenneth Sr. said, according to a New York Post report.

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.

According to prosecutors, Daniel Coppola (pictured) shot the happy couple in a fit of rage

The couple shared a six-bedroom, four-bathroom home valued at $1.1 million in affluent Suffolk County. They had been together for over a year, friends said.

Dorothy, Kenneth's mother, described in detail 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 and even had another daughter in 2009. But his relationships never really took off until he met Kelly, he says.

“They were soul mates,” Kenneth said. “People always called them boyfriend and girlfriend. They weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. If you walked into their house, they were in love.”

Kenneth (pictured) was Kelly's “soulmate,” his father said at his funeral

Kelly was also very happy when she met Kenneth, said her father John Patton.

“She was beaming with joy, she was smiling the whole time, and that this happened is such a tragedy,” he said. “I can't even speak – my whole family, his family, the grief that we feel is overwhelming. I just can't get over it.”

Their murders shocked residents of this normally quiet community on Long Island's north shore.

According to police, Daniel Coppola broke into the couple's home and shot his ex and her new partner in the hallway.

“When they were naked, he shot them with a semi-automatic pistol and killed them,” Assistant District Attorney Eric Aboulafia said in court.

Coppola and Kelly recently went through a bitter divorce, and at his arraignment on Friday, prosecutors presented evidence that Coppola suffered from pent-up murderous rage.

Daniel Coppola is pictured with his ex-wife Kelly, who 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 their divorce, including his own.

Aboulafia said investigators found a typewritten letter in Coppola's home in which he laid out his plan in “excruciating detail” and clearly showed his “murderous rage.”

In the letter, he blamed his ex-wife for his financial problems and announced that he also planned to kill the lawyers involved in their divorce, including his own – using bullets to mark each one.

Coppola's daughter was in the house when the double murder allegedly occurred.

According to authorities, he warned her in advance and lured her out of the house so that he could commit the heinous act unhindered.

“The daughter was in the house and he reached out to her and told her to leave the house,” said Detective Lt. Kevin Breyer.

“He picked up the girl, put her in his car, committed the murders and drove her from there to Harbor Road. While he drove her, she communicated with friends via text message, writing, 'I don't know what my father did. I don't know how my mother is.'”

Coppola was later arrested and reportedly held for psychiatric evaluation after expressing suicidal thoughts.

Kenneth and Kelly lived in this $1.1 million six-bedroom, four-bathroom home in affluent Suffolk County

According to friends, the couple had been together for about a year

Brianna, Kenneth's older daughter, said her father would give you “the shirt off his back even if he never knew you”

The devastated families of the victims left the courthouse in tears on Friday

Among those present in the courtroom during Friday's hearing were Kenneth's heartbroken parents and his brother Tom.

Tom screamed at Coppola as he was brought into the courtroom in a prison gown. Other relatives burst into tears.

“My father would give you the shirt off his back even if he never knew 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 and my sister, I and I are parentless,” she cried.

Brianna also explained that Kelly's daughter had been living with her and her father. Kelly “came and made the house a home for us,” she said.

She considers Kelly's daughter her sister and said she “instantly loved” her and Kelly.