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The Northerner

(5,040 posts) Fri Jul 13, 2012, 06:48 PM Jul 2012

17-year-old NY girl charged with killing father

TROY, N.Y. -- A 17-year-old upstate New York girl told police her angry father gave her an ultimatum early on Friday: She could kill him or he'd kill her then himself.

Trinity Copeland told police she begged her father to change his mind and that neither one of them had to get hurt, but he insisted. So, she said, she used his handgun to shoot 47-year-old Harland Copeland once in the head in the apartment they shared in the industrial city on the Hudson River near Albany.

"He said that he was going to kill us both or I was going to have to kill him," she told police in the statement released on Friday. "I said that I don't want to. He was like, then I'm going to kill you right now."

Trinity Copeland was charged with second-degree murder and jailed without bail. It could not immediately be learned if she had a lawyer.

13 replies

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17-year-old NY girl charged with killing father (Original Post) The Northerner Jul 2012 OP

more gun tragedy . . . how sad . . . 2 lives lost DrDan Jul 2012 #1

I knew abuse was involved. This was self defense. n/t BlueToTheBone Jul 2012 #2

where did you read abuse? He was a loser drunk pissed off about $150 in debit card charges snooper2 Jul 2012 #5

I'm sure there was emotional abuse BlueToTheBone Jul 2012 #6

if there was one gun and she had it, he was laying on the couch.. snooper2 Jul 2012 #7

you don't call his kill me or i kill you ultimatum ABUSE? elehhhhna Jul 2012 #10

I was talking about previous abuse leading up to this instant as the other poster I believe was too. snooper2 Jul 2012 #13

Mmmm...maybe not. There are some intriguing details in the other account posted below Tom Ripley Jul 2012 #9

My half-brother did the same when he was 15. Tierra_y_Libertad Jul 2012 #3

Do you remember that? lunatica Jul 2012 #4

. KurtNYC Jul 2012 #11

But this does not mean she will be found not guilty. See below... Tom Ripley Jul 2012 #8

This is horrible. rug Jul 2012 #12

DrDan

(20,411 posts)

1. more gun tragedy . . . how sad . . . 2 lives lost

Reply to The Northerner (Original post)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 06:57 PM

Jul 2012

BlueToTheBone

(3,747 posts)

2. I knew abuse was involved. This was self defense. n/t

Reply to The Northerner (Original post)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 07:06 PM

Jul 2012

snooper2

(30,151 posts)

5. where did you read abuse? He was a loser drunk pissed off about $150 in debit card charges

Reply to BlueToTheBone (Reply #2)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 07:15 PM

Jul 2012

I'm sure there was emotional abuse but that won't happen anymore

BlueToTheBone

(3,747 posts)

6. I'm sure there was emotional abuse

Reply to snooper2 (Reply #5)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 09:47 PM

Jul 2012

too. And usually there is physical abuse to go along with it. To say to someone, you better kill me otherwise you're dead...that would be self defense wouldn't it?

snooper2

(30,151 posts)

7. if there was one gun and she had it, he was laying on the couch..

Reply to BlueToTheBone (Reply #6)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 09:58 PM

Jul 2012

she could have, I don't know, run out the front door or something?

elehhhhna

(32,076 posts)

10. you don't call his kill me or i kill you ultimatum ABUSE?

Reply to snooper2 (Reply #5)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 10:53 PM

Jul 2012

really?

no, I mean REALLY???

c'mon,think that through

snooper2

(30,151 posts)

13. I was talking about previous abuse leading up to this instant as the other poster I believe was too.

Reply to elehhhhna (Reply #10)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 11:10 PM

Jul 2012

Tom Ripley

(4,945 posts)

9. Mmmm...maybe not. There are some intriguing details in the other account posted below

Reply to BlueToTheBone (Reply #2)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 10:50 PM

Jul 2012

Tierra_y_Libertad

(50,414 posts)

3. My half-brother did the same when he was 15.

Reply to The Northerner (Original post)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 07:12 PM

Jul 2012

My father was a violent drunk who, one evening, came home drunk and announced he was going to kill us all and himself. He went back across the street to the bar and when he returned by half-brother shot him.

He was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. I was 4, at the time, and witnessed it.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)

4. Do you remember that?

Reply to Tierra_y_Libertad (Reply #3)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 07:15 PM

Jul 2012

It must have been really bad for your half brother to do that. How is your family now? I hope well.

KurtNYC

(14,549 posts)

11. .

Reply to Tierra_y_Libertad (Reply #3)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 11:00 PM

Jul 2012

Tom Ripley

(4,945 posts)

8. But this does not mean she will be found not guilty. See below...

Reply to The Northerner (Original post)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 10:24 PM

Jul 2012

"Police said they have no reason to doubt that things happened the way Trinity Copeland said they did.

"The Troy police have no reason to question the veracity of her story due to the fact that her deposition was obtained completely voluntarily and completely appropriately," Captain John Cooney said.

"We take her facts for what they are thus leading to today's legal proceeding. As we stand here today we are very comfortable and feel that we have very appropriately determined Ms. Copeland to be the defendant in this case."

Trinity Copeland was charged with second-degree murder. She was sent to the Rensselaer County jail after her arraignment in City Court.

Copeland, 47, was found dead at 3022 Seventh Ave. around 3 a.m. Initially, police were unsure whether Copeland's injury may have been self-inflicted"

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/I-told-him-that-I-loved-him-and-that-I-was-3704737.php#ixzz20YlDe026

rug

(82,333 posts)

12. This is horrible.

Reply to The Northerner (Original post)

Fri Jul 13, 2012, 11:09 PM

Jul 2012

"Then I asked him again, 'Please don't make me kill you, it's not that serious.' He was like, 'I'm not going to say it again.' I was like, 'Why do I have to kill you, why do I have to kill you?' He said either way he was going to die and he was giving me a way out.

"He laid back on the coach and I aimed at him. He said do it. I told him that I loved him and that I was sorry. Then I did it. I shot him."

The teen said she dropped the gun on the floor.

"I said, 'Dad, Dad.' "

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/I-told-him-that-I-loved-him-and-that-I-was-3704737.php#ixzz20YwzR45P

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