Man suspected of shooting wife told police he wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose, records show
A Henderson man arrested Sunday on suspicion of shooting and killing his wife told police he wasn’t sure whether he did it on purpose or not, and afterward the man contemplated suicide, police records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal show.
Henderson police took Dennis Kopp, 64, into custody 5 p.m. Sunday outside his home in the 1700 block of Sequoia Drive, near Valle Verde Drive and Warm Springs Road.
Police said the man called 911 and said he’d shot his wife. He also said she was in pain and talked about committing suicide.
Paulette King, 61, was found inside a spare bedroom with a gunshot wound. She died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
According to a police affidavit, Kopp told detectives that his wife had been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, fibromyalgia and arthritis in her right knee and back.
The pair began their day drinking Scotch and watching TV in their living room, Kopp told police. King complained of pain and took a “handful of prescription pills.”
The woman then asked Kopp for some of his pills, saying that she “wanted to go to sleep and never wake up,” according to police records.
That’s when he went and retrieved his handgun from its lockbox in the bedroom. Kopp told police he originally meant to shock her, so he gave it to her unloaded.
She said she didn’t want to die that way, and according to police records, that’s when Kopp shot her.
Kopp told police he must have inserted the magazine and chambered a round, but he didn’t know whether he shot her intentionally or not.
He told police he thought about killing himself for five to 10 minutes before he called 911.
He was booked into the Henderson Detention Center on a murder charge. He’s due in court Aug. 1, according to the jail’s logs. Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournalcom and 702-383-0391. Find @WesJuhl on Twitter.
