On June 19th, a woman called the Portland, Maine, police department to warn that Marcel LaGrange Jr., 24, was threatening to commit random acts of violence.
Aspen Nouhan told police that after rejecting his advances, he sent her an online message stating, “multiple mf will die because of u.”
Michael Hayter, 41, and Brittney Cockrell, 37, had just moved to Maine with their two children, aged 7 and 11. LaGrange allegedly murdered them in front of their two kids in Westbrook just hours after Nouhan’s warning. Police say the slaughter was captured on video.
LaGrange was tackled by bystanders afterward.
According to the Maine State Police:
On Monday, June 19th, 2023, at approximately 8:28 pm, the Westbrook Police Department responded to a shooting complaint near the intersection of Main Street and Bridge Street in Westbrook. Officers arrived and observed a male suspect shooting a female near a vehicle in the parking lot off of Bridge Street. A foot pursuit of the suspect began back down Main Street in the direction of Armory Apartments. The armed gunman physically assaulted a bystander during his pursuit but was then tackled and disarmed by several other bystanders. Responders discovered two deceased individuals, a female near the vehicle and a man inside the vehicle in the parking lot off of Bridge Street. Also discovered inside the vehicle were the victim’s two children, an 11-year old boy and a 7-year-old girl who both witnessed the shooting. The children were not injured. The injured bystander hurt during the suspect’s pursuit has been identified as 75-year-old Fred Roukey of Westbrook. He was transported to Maine Medical Center with minor injuries.
LaGrange is a habitual criminal arrested for multiple assaults, assaulting a police officer, terrorizing, domestic violence, criminal mischief, and arson. He is also accused of violent crimes during his brief stints in jail. On at least two occasions he allegedly threatened to murder people. His own grandmother filed a restraining order against him. Every time he was charged with a crime, he was either never prosecuted, or only prosecuted with a misdemeanor.
He was also reportedly granted subsidized housing. It appears that the authorities were doing everything they could to pampering him.
LaGrange advocated for the Black Lives Matter [BLM] movement and was involved with the far-left Lewiston-based Maine Inside Out Project. This is a “transformative justice” non-profit that says criminals are victims of oppression. Maine Inside Out Project published a short rap song by Marcel LaGrange four days before he allegedly slaughtered Michael and Brittany.
Maine Inside Out was founded with the intention of building a movement for transformative justice, in which communities acknowledge and attend to the social, structural and systemic roots of crime and harm. We believe that oppression is at the root of all forms of harm.
The authorities say they have not decided if they will charge LaGrange with hate crimes. The victims had only lived in Maine for six months. Cockrell’s sister told a reporter, “Westbrook seemed like a nice place to live. They thought the area would be safe for their kids.”
Rap song by Marcel LaGrange that was published by the far-left Maine Inside Out Project just four days before the savage killings:
Maine Inside Out Project:
