CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — A 23-year-old Haitian national who once worked alongside the woman he is now accused of killing is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Walmart employee Latosha Ann Cooper, 45, in the parking lot of the Cedarbrook Plaza store in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, on the night of Wednesday, October 21, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said. The accused, Destino Jean-Louis, is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Source: Montgomery County District Attorney's Office via Glenside Local

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Cheltenham Township Chief of Police Richard Schaffer announced that Jean-Louis is charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and related firearms charges. FOX29 and 6ABC Philadelphia, reporting from court documents, listed the related charges as including illegal use of a firearm by an alien, carrying a firearm without a licence and possession of an instrument of crime.

What investigators say happened that night

At about 11:30 p.m. on October 21, Cheltenham Township police were sent to 1000 S. Easton Road for a reported shooting and found Cooper lying next to her Nissan sedan with a gunshot wound to the head; she was pronounced dead at the scene, the DA's office said. An autopsy later determined the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death homicide, and two projectiles recovered at autopsy were .22-calibre ammunition, according to the DA's account reported by Glenside Local.

Cheltenham Township Police and Montgomery County Detectives opened a joint homicide investigation. Through interviews and surveillance video, detectives say, they established that Cooper and a coworker walked out of the Walmart after their shift and were standing outside talking when a masked man walked up to Cooper and shot her, then ran across Cheltenham Avenue into Philadelphia County. Video also showed the masked shooter standing near a bush with a direct line of sight to the store entrance, waiting for the victim to leave, the DA's office said. Prosecutors allege the waiting was not a one-night act: investigators say phone and surveillance records show the accused visited or waited at the store repeatedly in the weeks before — at least 13 times, according to reporting on the court documents — and that he had asked employees about Cooper's schedule. Jean-Louis has denied being at the Walmart when Cooper was shot, 6ABC reported.

The arrest, and the evidence police cite

On Friday, October 23, at about 9 a.m., members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force arrested Jean-Louis at a residence in Philadelphia, following an immigration investigation, the DA's office said; the Marshals Service said the arrest was on the 6600 block of N. 18th Street. Montgomery County Detectives, with Philadelphia and Cheltenham police, then searched that residence and recovered a sandwich bag containing 11 rounds of .22-calibre ammunition, the DA's office said. Jean-Louis's cell-phone records, detectives say, showed multiple trips between the Philadelphia residence and the Walmart in the weeks before the killing and placed him in the area of the parking lot at the time of the shooting.

The DA's office formally charged Jean-Louis with murder on Friday evening, October 23, while he remained in federal custody. He stayed in federal custody over the weekend and was transferred to Cheltenham Township Police custody on Monday, October 26, the DA's office said. He is being held without bail while awaiting a preliminary hearing, according to court reporting. No hearing date had been publicly set in the sources available for this report.

The marriage, the petition, and the alleged motive

Detectives learned through interviews and record searches that Jean-Louis formerly worked at the same Walmart as Cooper and had a romantic relationship with her, and that the two were issued a marriage licence on March 31, 2025, the DA's office said. Cooper's own profile indicated she had worked at that Walmart for 22 years, most recently as a stocking coach. The DA's first release said the circumstances and a possible motive were not detailed in the information released. Court documents reported by FOX29 and 6ABC filled in what prosecutors allege: that the marriage was entered to help Jean-Louis pursue a green card, that his immigration application was denied in July, and that Cooper then withdrew her sponsorship petition and cut off contact — after which, investigators allege, he sought out her schedule and waited for her. Coworkers also described earlier threats and an earlier alleged assault in the relationship, according to that reporting. All of these motive claims are allegations from investigators and court documents, not findings by a court.

The immigration record, as federal officials describe it

The Department of Homeland Security, through sources speaking to Fox News, said Jean-Louis entered the United States legally on November 24, 2023, through Fort Lauderdale International Airport under the CHNV parole programme for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and that his legal status was revoked on June 12, 2025. In a statement, DHS said: “He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation's laws. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences.” The CHNV programme itself has been a central point of argument in the wider immigration debate; what is specific to this case, and what a court will actually decide, is the murder charge in Montgomery County, which is separate from any federal immigration proceeding.

For readers in the diaspora, the distinction matters: a withdrawn sponsorship petition, a denied application and an overstay allegation are immigration facts as officials describe them, while the killing itself must still be proven in a Pennsylvania courtroom, where Jean-Louis is entitled to the presumption of innocence. What happens next is the preliminary hearing in Montgomery County, at which prosecutors must show enough evidence for the murder case to proceed to trial, and any further statements from the DA's office or the defence. This report will be updated as those steps occur.