Last Updated Nov 10, 2014 4:56 PM
A 31-year-old man is facing murder charges after a fatal shooting in Butte Sunday evening.
Benjamin “Ben” Wilson of Palmer is charged with first- and second-degree murder and third-degree assault after allegedly killing 28-year-old Leticia Faller of Palmer, according to an online dispatch from Alaska State Troopers.
Sunday evening around 10 p.m., troopers received a 911 call about a shooting on Marth Road. According to charging documents, Wilson called 911 line stating he had just killed someone. Then, a second caller reported a female — later identified as Faller — had been shot outside of the Green Store, located at 3655 S. Old Glenn Hwy.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they found Wilson driving a red Dodge Dakota on Marth Road.
When troopers approached Wilson at 3030 S. Marth Road, he stated, “Why did I shoot her! Why?…She had a knife. I could have taken it from her. Why did I shoot her?”
Troopers then arrived at the Green Store, where they discovered Faller on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. The complaint says there was “blood, glass and vehicle tire tracks where the body had been.”
Faller was taken to an Anchorage hospital where she was declared deceased, the complaint says.
The complaint also details the events of the night and sheds light into how Wilson and Faller were acquainted.
According to the documents, Wilson and Faller were romantically involved. But Wilson told authorities he and the victim “never really had a relationship,” charging documents say.
Wilson also told authorities he and Faller’s boyfriend of three years went to the Green Store together in his truck. Faller met them there and got in the passenger’s side of Wilson’s pickup. As she entered the truck, she produced a knife and verbally assaulted Wilson, who then shot Faller in her head. Wilson then fled the scene and called police.
Faller’s sister provided a handwritten note to the Palmer Post on Sunday and also provided text conversations between Faller and others, including Wilson — all alluding that Faller may have feared for her life and the life of her 7-year-old daughter.
Wilson was arrested and charged late Monday morning and remanded at the Palmer Pretrial Correctional Facility. He is set to be arraigned tomorrow.