Montgomery County charged Destino Jean-Louis with murder in the shooting of Latosha Ann Cooper outside a Cheltenham Walmart.

The murder counts, and the firearm counts 6abc reported, are accusations. A marriage license, a bag of .22 ammunition, and cellphone records are what investigators say they have. They are not a verdict. NBC10 reported the public court record did not list a lawyer for Jean-Louis. Two outlets also do not agree on who told police about violence inside the relationship.

NBC10 Philadelphia and 6abc reported Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that Destino Jean-Louis, 23, is charged with first-degree murder and third-degree murder in the death of Latosha Ann Cooper, 45. 6abc also reported related firearm charges. NBC10 reported other related offenses and said the public docket did not list a lawyer. Glenside Local reported Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Cheltenham Chief of Police Richard Schaffer announced the case, that the district attorney's office charged him Friday evening while he was still in federal custody, and that Cheltenham Township Police took custody of him on Monday. NBC10 reported that on Wednesday, Oct. 21, around 11:30 p.m., police found Cooper next to her car outside the Walmart at Cedarbrook Plaza, 1000 S. Easton Road, in Cheltenham's Glenside section, with a gunshot wound to the head, and that she was pronounced dead there. The Daily Voice, citing court documents it obtained Monday, reported officers were dispatched at 11:24 p.m. and that she was beside a Nissan sedan. 6abc also reported the Nissan and called the shooting a targeted attack. NBC10 and Glenside Local reported an autopsy found multiple gunshot wounds and that the death was ruled a homicide. NBC10 put the autopsy on Oct. 22.

NBC10 reported surveillance showed a masked man near a bush by the store entrance, and that a coworker said she and Cooper walked out after their shift, were talking in the lot, and that the man pulled a gun, shot Cooper, and ran across Cheltenham Avenue into Philadelphia. Glenside Local reported the same path and that the video showed him waiting with a view of the entrance. The Daily Voice, citing the affidavit, reported the shooter was in the lot at 11:08 p.m., that Cooper and the coworker came out around 11:21 p.m., that he approached from behind, appeared to grab her upper body and extended an arm, that the coworker heard two or three shots, and that video showed him running across the avenue at 11:22 p.m. NBC10, 6abc, and Glenside Local reported Jean-Louis had worked at that Walmart and had a romantic relationship with Cooper, and that records show a marriage license issued March 31, 2025. 6abc attributed the license date to the district attorney's office. The Daily Voice reported he told detectives they began dating in April 2024 and married in April 2025. A license date in March and a marriage he described as April are two different lines. NBC10 reported investigators said he is a Haitian national who married Cooper to secure his immigration status, that a coworker said he had worked at the store for a year and a half and was fired after that status was denied, and that a falling-out followed. 6abc reported the Marshals said he overstayed a visa, and that detectives learned a recent falling-out appeared to amplify his immigration problems. The Daily Voice reported the affidavit says he entered from Haiti through a humanitarian program on Nov. 24, 2023, that the program was later canceled, and that her petition for him to remain as her husband was withdrawn on July 30, 2026.

The outlets do not describe the violence inside the relationship the same way. The Daily Voice reported an employee told investigators that in a July phone call Jean-Louis admitted he had physically assaulted Cooper because she had disrespected him, and that he said he would do it again. It reported the employee said he was upset she had stopped answering his calls and that he said that was interfering with his immigration process. NBC10 reported a coworker said Cooper admitted to physically abusing Jean-Louis during the relationship. Those are not the same account, and neither is a finding. The Daily Voice reported he told detectives the marriage was difficult and said "she fucked up my life," that he said he was in his Philadelphia basement apartment with his phone during the shooting and denied ever having a gun, and that when detectives confronted him with cellphone evidence placing the phone near the Walmart he said, "I don't know how." It reported he admitted calling Walmart employees to ask if she was working and told them the reason was that she owed him money.

NBC10, citing a U.S. Marshals Service Philadelphia post, reported he was arrested at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, on the 6600 block of N. 18th Street for immigration violations, that the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office charged him with murder that evening, and that he stayed in federal custody until Monday afternoon, when Cheltenham police took him. The post spelled his last name Jean Louis, without a hyphen. Glenside Local reported the same Friday morning arrest by the Marshals fugitive task force, a search warrant by Montgomery County detectives with Philadelphia and Cheltenham police, and a sandwich bag with 11 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition. NBC10 reported the same bag and the same count of rounds. Glenside Local reported two projectiles from the autopsy were .22 caliber. 6abc reported the ammunition found at the arrest was the same caliber used in the shooting. NBC10 and Glenside Local reported his cellphone records showed repeated trips between the Philadelphia home and the Walmart in the weeks before the shooting and placed the phone in the parking lot at the time. Those are the allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.