Police say a Wisconsin man shot his wife to death on her 60th birthday, alleging he put a bullet through her head in broad daylight as she sat in her car outside a Milwaukee beauty salon where he was planning to pamper her with a spa day.
But Jacqueline Beason never made it inside the building.
Timothy Darnell Lewis, 59, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and use of a dangerous weapon in the killing of his 60-year-old spouse, telling investigators that he “got tired” of her constant nagging, according to a criminal complaint.
Lewis remains held in the Milwaukee County Jail without bond.
The shooting happened around 12:45 p.m. on May 25, in the 800 block of North Cass Street, just north of the Northwestern Mutual campus in downtown Milwaukee, reports said.
A criminal complaint obtained by Milwaukee’s Fox station WITI stated that a police officer found the victim unresponsive behind the wheel of her gray Toyota Corolla, her body leaning over the console toward the passenger seat.
Lewis, who fled the scene in a white Mercedes, was arrested later the same day after allegedly confessing to shooting his wife.
Court documents state Lewis told investigators he planned to spoil Beason that day and had made appointments for her to get a massage and a pedicure, but that they wound up getting into an argument that turned fatal.
Lewis told authorities that he drove to the downtown area to meet her, but as he walked up said she was already bickering about something he’d done.
Lewis said he became angry because she was on the phone with her daughter while belittling him, saying he got annoyed to the point that he pulled out his gun.
He then confessed to pulling the trigger, telling investigators, “I just lost it right there,” as his wife was getting on his case, emphasizing that he quickly became fed up.
Lewis allegedly told police he accepted full responsibility for shooting his wife once through the jaw.
The woman was struck once in the head, the wound causing a substantial amount of blood in the car, police said.
An officer performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but nothing could save Beason, and she was declared dead at the scene.
The medical examiner later confirmed the woman had been shot in the left cheek, where Lewis would have been standing outside the driver’s side window, as witnesses described.
The bullet lodged in her skull, with the tip of the projectile protruding from the back of her head on the opposite side.
Moments earlier, the woman’s adult daughter, who goes by T’Latrice BT on Facebook, overheard the couple arguing over Lewis’ disrespectful behavior toward her and other family members, according to court papers.
Seconds later, Beason indicated that Lewis was outside her car window, brandishing what she believed to be a fake gun.
“Put that gun away,” the daughter said. She heard her mom yell, then heard Lewis respond, “There you go,” before the call went dead.
While no shots were fired up to that point, Beason’s daughter became deeply concerned because it sounded as though the phone was deliberately shut off, court documents said.
She tried frantically to call back several times, but instead of getting her mom, someone else picked up, saying the woman in the car had just been shot.
The person who found the victim called 911.
Another witness who saw the shooting from across the street told police she saw a Black man leaning inside the window of a woman’s car while aiming a semiautomatic pistol at her, according to court papers.
The witness reported hearing the woman in the car say she had recordings of his abuse and demanded that he back away from her car.
She then heard the man say, “OK,” before firing a single gunshot through the window.
The shooter walked to a parked Mercedes, got in and sped away, the witness told police, according to the complaint.
Later that day, police stopped Lewis in his car and placed him under arrest.
Police recovered a handgun from inside the Mercedes.
Beason’s daughter said she was devastated over the loss of her mother.
“I’m so hurt, lost angry confused …. I just don’t understand,” she wrote on Facebook. “My life will NEVER ever be the same. I went from celebrating my Moms 60th birthday to planning her funeral all within 24 hours. This has to be a nightmare.”
Family friend Lisa Doss said Deason would be missed, describing her as “a caring person and she took care of the house and she took care of her kids,” according to WITI.
