TROY — It was her father's last wish.

Trinity Copeland told police that was why she aimed a rifle at the 47-year-old man and fired a bullet into his head as he lay on a couch in his North Central home early Friday.

The 17-year-old girl's emotional confession to city investigators came after she called 911 to report that her father, Harlan Copeland, had been shot in his first-floor apartment at 3022 Seventh Ave., located on a gritty street of rowhouses, many of them boarded up.

The two had been arguing over her repeated use of his ATM card in Albany, against his wishes, which culminated in an explosive confrontation.

Within several hours, Harlan Copeland would be dead and his daughter would be charged with second-degree murder. The weapon was found near the victim.

The girl, a student at Troy High School, told police in a two-page statement that her father, who was drinking, became highly upset when she told him she had taken the ATM card — and grabbed his rifle.

She said her enraged dad pointed the weapon at her, then told her he was going to kill her and himself "because he wasn't going to jail for me misbehaving."

She said she told her father she would "stay on punishment" but he came up with another option.

"He said that he was going to kill us both — or I was going to have to kill him," Trinity Copeland told police. "I said that I don't want to. He was like, 'Then I'm going to kill you right now.' I said 'No, no, no, no.' Then he said 'take the gun' and I took it. I walked up to him and grabbed the gun and I backed up and he said, 'aim it' and then I aimed it. I was shaking. I said that I don't have to kill you if I don't have to do this. He sat up aggressively and said 'Then give me the gun and I will.' I was like, 'OK, OK.' I aimed it and he told me what to say to cover it up.

"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 couch 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.' "

She said she then walked into the kitchen and opened a window.

"There are no fingerprints because I had gloves," she said. "I went to my room. I had a small towel on my shoulder and threw it on my bed and took my gloves off and threw them in one of my bottom drawers. I grabbed my Dad's phone and went upstairs, knocked on the door and asked for help."

City police initially suspected the killing was a suicide. Capt. John Cooney, a department spokesman, said 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."

Cooney said police were getting a search warrant for the house. An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.

Trinity Copeland's official address was listed on Garfield Road in East Nassau, but Cooney said she had been staying with her father.

She was sent to the Rensselaer County Jail after her arraignment in City Court.

She declined to comment before she was driven off by police from the station.

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