Hallucinating a burglary, dad shoots up family home with shotgun, NC deputies say

A Mooresville man is facing child abuse charges after sheriff’s deputies say he got high on meth and began shooting at imaginary burglars inside his home.

John-Michael Scott Coppola’s newborn child was at the home when the shooting occurred Dec. 8, according to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.

Coppola, 27, and the child’s mother, 22-year-old Kaylee Brianna Wilhelm, were both charged with child abuse in connection with the incident, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Investigators say deputies were sent to the home on Pond View Road to conduct a welfare check on the infant. They found that “Coppola and Wilhelm both appeared to be impaired by some substance,” officials said.

“Coppola and Wilhelm had been using Meth and marijuana while caring for their infant,” officials said in the news release. “Coppola had hallucinated, and thought people had broken into his home. He then began firing a 12 gauge shotgun into the walls.”

Deputies “immediately notified” the county’s Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services, which sent staff to remove the infant from the home, officials said.

Investigators declined to release details on the age of the child or how many shots were fired during the incident.

The couple were arrested Dec. 19, and a magistrate set a bond of $7,500 each, officials said.

This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Hallucinating a burglary, dad shoots up family home with shotgun, NC deputies say."