What we know about the hammer killing of a convenience store clerk in Florida

By Lauren Mascarenhas, Alex Stambaugh, CNN

(CNN) — A mother of two was killed by a man wielding a hammer outside a convenience store in Florida earlier this month, seen in a gruesome video that has captured the attention of the nation — and the president.

A Haitian national, 40-year-old Rolbert Joachin, was charged with murder after officials said he repeatedly struck the women with a hammer in what they described as a targeted attack. Though the victim did not know Joachin, they had a previous encounter, police said.

As the victim’s community reckons with a senseless act of violence, President Donald Trump has seized on it to push an immigration agenda that would remove protections for hundreds of thousands.

Here’s what we know:

What happened?

Video of the incident, which took place the morning of April 2, circulating online and shared by the Department of Homeland Security shows a man repeatedly hitting a car parked in the gas station’s parking lot with an object that appears to be a hammer.

When a woman exits the store and approaches the man, appearing to speak to him, he walks toward her and strikes her with the object in his hand. The woman falls onto the sidewalk before he strikes her another six times on her head and torso and walks away.

Police received calls around 7:19 a.m. ET notifying them of the incident, according to court documents. When they arrived, they found the woman unresponsive and not breathing, the documents said.

Witnesses told police they had seen a man hitting a car and then striking a woman “with a mallet,” according to the arrest report.

Authorities identified Joachin — who they note had previous interactions with police — and arrested him later that day, after “an extensive coordinated manhunt,” Fort Myers Police Chief Jason Fields said Friday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents assisted Fort Myers police in tracking down and arresting Joachin, DHS said in a statement Tuesday.

What we know about the victim

A memorial now sits outside the gas station, where community members honored a loving mother who was devoted to her faith, according to CNN affiliate WBBH.

Police have withheld the woman’s name, citing Marsy’s Law, which is designed to protect the rights and privacy of victims in Florida.

But the president of the Bangladesh Association of Southwest Florida identified her as Nilufa Easmin, a mother of two daughters and member of the group.

“Easmin was a devoted mother who worked tirelessly to provide for her two young daughters. Tragically, her life was cut short while she was at work in Fort Myers, FL, leaving her family and friends heartbroken. The loss of Easmin has created an unimaginable void in the lives of her daughters,” Samir Bahadur Syed wrote in a GoFundMe he organized in support of Easmin’s daughters.

She was working as a store clerk at the gas station at the time of the attack, according to court documents.

Micah McCombs, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa, said Friday that Easmin “got her citizenship the right way” after coming to the US from Bangladesh, calling the killing “senseless.”

What we know about the suspect

Joachin was charged with murder, criminal mischief and damage to property over $1,000, a third-degree felony, according to court documents. He’s being held without bond after a hearing in Lee County court Wednesday and is scheduled to be arraigned on May 4. CNN has reached out to Joachin’s lawyers.

Joachin entered the US in 2022 and had temporary protected status until the Trump administration revoked his protections last week, according to Kelei Walker, the acting Miami field officer director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Temporary protected status allows people to live and work in the US if they’re from certain countries, designated by DHS, where conditions prevent nationals from returning safely, including ongoing armed conflict or environmental disaster. Recipients of the immigration benefit aren’t eligible if they’ve been convicted of any felony or more than one misdemeanor in the US.

Joachin was previously arrested by US Border Patrol in what ICE described Friday as a “maritime smuggling event” and was issued a final order of removal in 2022 before “the prior administration allowed him to be released into the United States, and subsequently granted him temporary protected status, giving him a legal safeguard to remain in our country,” Walker said.

Trump weighs in

Trump posted graphic video of the attack Thursday night, broadly criticizing the humanitarian protections previously granted for Haitians.

“The Biden Administration granted him, and all Haitians, ‘Temporary Protective Status,’ a massively abused and fraudulent program which my Administration is working to terminate,” Trump wrote in his post. “This one killing should be enough for these Radical Judges to STOP impeding my Administration’s Immigration Policies, and allow us to END THIS SCAM ONCE AND FOR ALL.”

Haitian immigrants became eligible for TPS after a massive, destructive earthquake in 2010.

The administration sought to terminate temporary protected status for more than 350,000 Haitians before a judge blocked that move in February, citing, among other points, the president’s repeated derogatory comments about Haitians. Trump has since asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of Haitian immigrants, condemned Trump’s decision to weaponize the tragedy to undermine TPS protections.

“Our hearts are with the family of the victim during this unimaginably painful time. We condemn this act of violence in the strongest possible terms. But we must also be clear: one individual’s actions do not define an entire people,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement.

“The exploitation of this tragedy to demonize Haitian immigrants and dismantle humanitarian protections is both unjust and deeply harmful. Haitian TPS holders and immigrant families in the United States are workers, caregivers, students, and neighbors. They deserve dignity, protection, and policies grounded in truth—not fear,” Jozef added.

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CNN’s Tami Luhby, Matthew Rehbein, Rebekah Riess, Diego Mendoza, Zoe Sottile and Isabel Rosales contributed to this report.