Overview
- Police say Benjaman Visser Jr., 27, is booked on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of his wife, 21-year-old Mary Visser, and her coworker, 32-year-old Shaquille Simmons, outside a Tempe Little Caesars on Dec. 1.
- Court records and surveillance reviewed by detectives indicate Simmons was shot first at the restaurant entrance, Mary was then shot in the parking lot, additional shots were fired as Simmons fled, and Mary was shot again while on the ground.
- According to 911 records cited in court papers, Mary called for help and identified her husband as the shooter before Visser took her phone and told dispatchers he had shot two people; officers nearby arrived immediately and detained him at the scene.
- In a separate case the same morning, prosecutors charged Fernando Gallegos after the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Dominic Baysinger during an in-person online sale meetup at Tempe Marketplace, alleging a planned armed robbery involving a gun-for-ring exchange.
- Visser is held on a $2 million cash-only bond with a preliminary hearing set, and Gallegos appeared in court as prosecutors sought a $1.2 million bond; investigators collected a firearm at the Marketplace scene and await ballistics as both probes continue.