Garrett Mitchell

The Republic | azcentral.com

A former Phoenix police officer who was charged in the shooting deaths of his wife and a motorist near Loop 202 last summer pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Christopher Glen Wright, 39, admitted to opening fire at his wife, Nasbah Laverne Wright, and Tomas Olivas Ornelas, a good Samaritan who had stopped his vehicle to potentially come to the woman's aid.

“This plea ensures the defendant will be held accountable for his actions in the unjustified taking of innocent human life. His continuing crass attitude towards the harm he caused to other family members and the loss to our community calls for significant punishment,” Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said in a statement.

Wright told Mesa police that he had attempted to kill his wife by wrecking their Range Rover in the early-morning hours of May 31, 2016, before he fatally shot her.

Court records say Nasbah Wright, 41, called Mesa police while trying to prevent Christopher Wright from taking her vehicle, but her call was cut off. When a dispatcher reconnected with Nasbah Wright, she said she was in the car with her husband. Then the call was disconnected again.

In a final call at about 3:30 a.m., Nasbah Wright alerted authorities of her location in east Mesa and told them her husband was going to shoot her with a rifle, according to court records.

Ornelas, 49, had pulled his truck over near the crash and Nasbah Wright ran toward him for help, according to court records. Christopher Wright pulled out his firearm and shot Ornelas, who was still in the driver's seat of the truck, then turned the gun on his wife, according to court records.

Officers who arrived at the scene reported hearing her yelling before numerous gunshots rang out, court records say. Christopher Wright surrendered himself to Mesa police by lying on the ground without being commanded after he initially attempted to flee on foot from the scene, court records say.

Wright had worked as a police officer with the the Phoenix Police Department for nearly two years until he was forced to resign after officers found him illegally possessing and using marijuana after a domestic-violence incident with a live-in girlfriend, court records say.

He told Mesa police he killed his wife because she was a “cheating (expletive)” and that he did not shoot at the officers who took him into custody because “he did not have a beef" with them, a police report said.

Police discovered an assault rifle on the front passenger seat of the Range Rover along with two 30-round magazines scattered along the floorboard and 20 shell casings near the driver’s side of the car.

After Wright's arrest, Mesa police officers used pepper spray and deployed a stun gun after he became physically resistant when they found he moved his handcuffs to the front of his body during transport, court records say.

He disclosed to police that he was physically and verbally abusive to his wife “on a regular basis” in the past and that he was in the throes of a cocaine binge with little sleep, court records say.

Wright told officers that he had awakened and prepared to leave their shared home near Ellsworth and McDowell roads about 3 a.m., but his wife wouldn’t let him go.

Court records say Wright told investigators that he and his wife opted to “take a drive” and he became more upset as she called 911. He said he traveled at speeds over 100 mph and hit a curb in order to crash the vehicle.

In that initial conversation with officers, Wright remained without remorse for his actions, telling investigators “he would do it all again,” and said both his wife and Ornelas, whom he did not know, deserved to die, court records say.

Wright is scheduled to be sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court on April 28.