Arizona Man Accused Of Attacking Co-Workers On Meal Break, Killing One With Baseball Bat And Hatchet

An Arizona man was arrested after a workplace assault left one co-worker dead and another hospitalized, police said.

Officers were called to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler for a reported assault involving a man with a hatchet around 6:15 a.m. on Feb. 25, the Chandler Police Department said.

Once on the scene, officers located Derrick Lemond Simmons, 50, carrying two duffle bags in front of the building, and he told them they were looking for him, police said.

Officers then entered the building and found Dan Foster, 49, dead in the cafeteria from blunt-force trauma injuries.

A second victim, 27-year-old Jaron Williams had non-life threatening injuries and was transported to an area hospital.

Witnesses claimed Simmons allegedly approached Foster at a table in the cafeteria after the night-shift employees left and hit him multiple times on the head with a baseball bat, according to court documents obtained by Arizona’s Family.

At the time of the attack, Williams was sitting with Foster, who stood up to confront Simmons and was struck in the back of the head with the same bat, the documents show.

Simmons continued to hit Foster with the bat, but then switched to a hatchet, according to authorities.

After hitting Foster multiple times with the hatchet, police said Simmons took out a knife and started stabbing him.

Court records show Simmons was not injured in the attack but had blood on his clothing and shoes.

At the scene, police said they recovered a bag Simmons brought with him into the facility that was filled with tools not necessary for his job.

Simmons was scheduled to work in another building the day of the incident and had no reason to be in the same area as the two victims, court documents state.

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Arizona’s Family reported there had been bad blood between Foster and Simmons, and arguments between the two men forced their employer to separate the pair and place them in different work areas of the building.

Simmons was arrested and faces charges of first-degree murder, and aggravated assault. He was being held on $1 million bond, police said.

The suspect was previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2001.