The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Swiss Billionaire Bankrolling Maine Dems, Maine Media Faces Sexual Harassment Lawsuit: Hansjörg Wyss
  • Shocking DHHS Report Details 2,100 Allegations of Abuse Targeting the Intellectually Disabled in 2024
  • South Portland Police Arrested Man for Burglary After Briefly Mistaking a High-School Student for the Suspect
  • Republican State Senator James Libby Registers to Run for Governor
  • Maine Chamber Sues Over Onerous New Tax, Yet Extols the State Senator Who Created It
  • ICE Announces Mexican Takedown of Three Synthetic Drug Labs as Part of Cross-Border Collaborative Effort
  • GOP Gubernatorial Field Begins to Take Shape
  • White House Reportedly Weighs Major Nuclear Regulatory Shift
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Sunday, May 18
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
The Maine Wire
Home » News » News » Suspect in Double Homicide of Texas Couple Told Maine Officers He Wanted to Go on Shooting Spree in 2018
News

Suspect in Double Homicide of Texas Couple Told Maine Officers He Wanted to Go on Shooting Spree in 2018

Steve RobinsonBy Steve RobinsonJune 22, 2023Updated:June 22, 20236 Comments2 Mins Read10K Views
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Michael Hayter and Brittney Cockrell, killed in a shooting Monday night, had just moved to Maine from Texas (Source: Facebook)
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

The young couple gunned down Monday night in Westbrook had recently relocated to Maine from Texas with their two young children.

Michael Hayter, 41, and Brittney (McKinney) Cockrell, 37, were shot to death in front of their 7- and 11-year-old children by Marcel LaGrange, Jr., according to the Maine State Police (MSP), in what appears to be a random act of violence.

Law enforcement has not said whether the case is being investigated as a hate crime.

LaGrange, 24, had previously told corrections officers at the Long Creek Youth Correctional Center in 2018 that he wanted wanted to go on a shooting spree and kill innocent people, according to a report from the Portland newspaper.

The Maine Wire reported Tuesday that LaGrange had a lengthy criminal record that includes assault, terrorizing, assaulting police officers, and arson — crimes which earned him brief stints in correctional facilities over the past four years. LaGrange had also previously been involved with a non-profit that helps incarcerated youth rehabilitate through the arts.

Fox23 WGME has reported based on police sources that the entire shooting was caught by surveillance camera. The outlet has also reported that an anonymous woman, shortly before the shooting, had alerted the Portland Police Department to threats LaGrange had made against her.

“In those four days, I quickly realized that he was a very dangerous person,” the woman said, according to WGME. “So I asked to not have contact with him, which is what made him just, he went insane.”

In text messages to the woman, LaGrange reportedly threatened to make other people “pay” for her rebuffed advances.

Social media accounts that appear to belong to LaGrange are covered with images of LaGrange smoking what appears to be marijuana and brandishing firearms.

Depending on when that firearm was acquired, LaGrange would have been prohibited under Maine law from legally purchasing a firearm.

State police investigators have yet to say how LaGrange obtained the firearm.

Previous ArticlePortland City Attorneys Conducting ‘Legal Research’ Into Whether Councilor Pious Ali Violated Electioneering Laws
Next Article Joe ‘Big Guy’ Biden in Room While Hunter Shook Down Chinese Businessman Henry Zhao: Whistleblower
Steve Robinson
  • Twitter

Steve Robinson is the Editor-in-Chief of The Maine Wire. ‪He can be reached by email at Robinson@TheMaineWire.com.

Subscribe to Substack

Related Posts

Shocking DHHS Report Details 2,100 Allegations of Abuse Targeting the Intellectually Disabled in 2024

May 16, 2025

South Portland Police Arrested Man for Burglary After Briefly Mistaking a High-School Student for the Suspect

May 16, 2025

Republican State Senator James Libby Registers to Run for Governor

May 16, 2025

<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="20440 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=20440">6 Comments

  1. jojo on June 23, 2023 5:26 PM

    “police investigators have yet to say how LaGrange obtained the firearm.”

    Hmmm, it’s almost as if this dusky criminal WENT AROUND THE LAW to obtain his firearm….

  2. Ayuh on June 23, 2023 6:12 PM

    “Gee, I best stop smoking marijuana, or I’ll go shoot random people in Westbrook.”

    Said no one ever.

    Get Soros DA’s, get Soros DA results: Complete zeros waking amongst us.

  3. Lori Raybine on June 24, 2023 4:37 PM

    My husband was murdered in 2013 by Mohamud Mohamed from Somalia ; Joseph Bub Peters Nguany of Sudan and John Lopez JR from Old Orchard Beach Me- Mohamed got 3 yrs did 18 months : Lopez is out and has a free college degree, Joseph Ngyany is in Maine State Prison for now: my husband was shot unarmed as he sat in a car: the gun was obtained by Going to the housing projects in South Portland and being dug up from the yards, how is gun control going to stop these types from getting guns? It will not stop them it will unarm us and leave us as sitting ducks. Clearly the mental health system failed here and will continue to fail because no one cares enough to fix it, if anyone thinks they are safe and this is not going to keep happening you are wrong. When Mohamed was released from Maine Jail I called ICE it was not done automatically nor was it communicated to me: I did speak to a man from ICE about 6 yrs ago and was told he was deported: but borders have been wide open for years now: so he’s probably back on U S soil . This is a tragedy that really was not preventable , the system is not at all equipped to stop these people, the guns are buried for them to access and there’s not enough law enforcement now nor will there be in the future. My sincerest condolences to the kids and their families , I know a bit about what you are in now and it’s not pretty not fair and this devil will have more rights and more protection than you will , god help us all,

  4. warren wayne adkins on July 6, 2023 11:11 AM

    Lori it rips at my HEART to hear your story. I pray the LORD watches over you and your family. This story is happening so much now it sounds normal, Every capable Citizen should be armed and well train in how to use weapons. You are right that this will not stop UNTIL WE MAKE IT STOP.

  5. Kay-kay K. Rowster on July 13, 2023 11:32 PM

    Nice shiner this half-breed nizzle received. Hope it gets infecteed and he loses his eye.

  6. Drusilla on July 23, 2023 7:53 AM

    Why are these nizzlers in our country?!

Leave A Reply

Subscribe to Substack
Recent News

Shocking DHHS Report Details 2,100 Allegations of Abuse Targeting the Intellectually Disabled in 2024

May 16, 2025

South Portland Police Arrested Man for Burglary After Briefly Mistaking a High-School Student for the Suspect

May 16, 2025

Republican State Senator James Libby Registers to Run for Governor

May 16, 2025

Maine Chamber Sues Over Onerous New Tax, Yet Extols the State Senator Who Created It

May 16, 2025

ICE Announces Mexican Takedown of Three Synthetic Drug Labs as Part of Cross-Border Collaborative Effort

May 16, 2025
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.