Family Moved to Raise Kids in Safe Town. Then Mom and Dad Were Gunned Down as Kids Watched

A Maine man who fatally shot a couple in front of their children has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

On Dec. 4, 26-year-old Marcel LaGrange received two life sentences plus an additional 50 years for the June 2023 killings of Brittney Cockrell and Michael Hayter, as well as for attempting to kill one of their children, according to WGME, WMTW, and News Center Maine.

Cockrell and Hayter had recently relocated from Houston, Texas, to Maine, believing it would be a safer place to raise their family. Just weeks after the move, their children witnessed both parents being shot in downtown Westbrook, WGME reported.

Prosecutors said LaGrange carried out the attack after being rejected by a woman. Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman told the court that LaGrange had said “multiple people would die because of what she was doing,” adding that he lay in wait on the night of June 19, 2023, intending to kill someone.

According to Ackerman, the couple’s two children were inside the car when their father was shot in the front seat. The children then watched as their mother was chased by LaGrange, who was armed with a gun.

During sentencing, the children’s grandfather read a letter from his grandson, who wrote that there was “just enough time” for the children to duck, as Jeff McKinney recounted.

Bystander Aaron Bean also testified about what he witnessed at the scene. “Brittney’s screaming rings in my ear,” he said, describing the moment as devastating. “Seeing kids reach out for their dead father is heartbreaking.”

LaGrange pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and additional charges including aggravated assault, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, according to the outlets.

“I was not in my right mind that day,” LaGrange said in court, per WMTW. He told the judge that he had stopped taking his medication and had been drinking alcohol and using marijuana without receiving needed mental health care.

LaGrange has been housed in the intensive mental health unit at Maine State Prison since July 2023 and is expected to remain there under his life sentences, News Center Maine reported.

The victims’ children are now living in Texas with their grandparents, who are raising them, according to the Portland Press Herald, WMTW, and WGME.