A Cheltenham Walmart employee gunned down in the store’s parking lot was killed by an ex-boyfriend, police say
Latosha Cooper agreed to marry Destino Jean Louis, a Haitian national, to help him stay in the U.S., police said. He killed her after they broke up, blaming her for issues with his application.
A worker at the Walmart in Cheltenham who was gunned down in the store’s parking lot last week was killed by an ex-boyfriend after she changed her mind about a plan to marry him so he could get a green card, police said Monday.
Destino Jean Louis, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder and related crimes in the Oct. 21 death of Latosha Cooper. Cooper, 45, was shot twice by a masked gunman as she prepared to drive home from her shift at the store on Easton Road in the township’s Wyncote section.
Jean Louis remains in custody, denied bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
As police investigated Cooper’s shooting, they learned that Jean Louis had recently been calling her co-workers at the store, trying to learn about her schedule, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He told them she was refusing to answer his calls and had ruined his life.
And he waited outside the store for her at least 13 times, attempting to ambush her, before firing the fatal shot last week, according to cell phone data reviewed by police.
Jean Louis, a Haitian national, had previously worked at the store with Cooper, but was fired last year due to issues with his immigration status, the affidavit said.
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He had entered the United States in 2023 under a humanitarian program that was terminated by President Donald Trump, and he sought to remain here. Cooper, with whom he was intimately involved, offered to marry him to allow him to apply for a green card, the affidavit said.
The couple were issued a marriage license in March 2025. However, there were issues with Jean Louis’ application, and Cooper cut ties with him as their relationship soured, the affidavit said.
She withdrew her petition that would allow him to stay in the U.S. as her husband in July.
Cooper’s co-workers told police that Jean Louis admitted he assaulted her during their relationship, telling one of them that she had disrespected him and “in his country such disrespect is not tolerated,” according to the affidavit.
On the evening of the shooting, Cooper, a 22-year employee of that Walmart who most recently served as a stock coach, walked to her car with another co-worker around 11:30, police said.
Meanwhile, Jean Louis had been hiding in a bush near the store’s entrance for about 30 minutes. When he saw Cooper leave the store, he quickly walked toward her in an apparent attempt to catch up to her, police said.
As he got closer to her, he grabbed her and fired twice with a .22 caliber handgun. He then fled the scene.
Detectives later learned Jean Louis had been living with a relative in an apartment on 18th Street in West Oak Lane. U.S. Marshals took him into custody there on Friday, the affidavit said.
A bag of .22 caliber bullets was found in the room where Jean Louis had been sleeping.
In an interview with detectives, Jean Louis denied killing Cooper, saying he was in the West Oak Lane apartment at the time she was shot.
When confronted with evidence, including his cell phone data, that conflicted with his account, he could not provide an explanation, the affidavit said.
