Cheltenham Walmart worker killed by masked gunman as she prepared to drive home, police say
Latosha Cooper, 45, was shot multiple times late Wednesday as she stood next to her vehicle in the store's parking lot, police said.
An employee of the Walmart store in Cheltenham Township was killed late Wednesday, police said, as she stood next to her car in the store’s parking lot, preparing to drive home.
Latosha Ann Cooper, 45, had just finished her shift when she was shot multiple times just before 11:30 p.m., according to a statement from Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
The killer, who witnesses told police wore a mask, fled. Responding officers took Cooper to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
A spokesperson for Steele said Thursday that the motive for the shooting remained unclear and that Cooper’s death was being investigated as a homicide.
Cooper had worked at the Walmart, located on Easton Road in the township’s Wyncote section, for 22 years, most recently as a stocking coach, according to her Facebook profile.
Her family did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Eight years ago, the store was the scene of a shooting that left five people injured and the area on lockdown by police.
In August 2018, Keenan Jones, 38, pulled his girlfriend’s gun from her waistband and opened fire as the couple were waiting in line to check out, according to testimony at Jones’ trial.
His attorney argued that Jones was in the middle of a psychotic break, paranoid and delusional that the people in line behind him were threatening his life, and that Jones acted in what he believed to be self-defense.
Jurors were not swayed, and convicted him of multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and firearm offenses. He is currently serving a 25- to 62-year sentence in state prison.
Anyone with information about Cooper’s death is asked to call Cheltenham police at 215-885-1600.
