Lansdale man sentenced to state prison for breaking into his ex’s home and killing her new boyfriend

A Lansdale man pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder for killing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in a last-minute legal decision that spared him from a trial on more serious charges.

Christopher Moore Jr., 21, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to burglary for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in April 2023 and engaging Wesley Smith in a fatal shootout.

Moore was sentenced to 28 to 56 years in prison on all charges by Montgomery County Court Judge William Carpenter.

Moore’s lawyer, Michael Walker, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Assistant District Attorney William Highland III and Assistant District Attorney Karla Pisarcik said Tuesday that Moore’s actions that night were the culmination of a pattern of domestic violence against his ex, whom he had dated for a few years and with whom he had two children. Police had been called for reports of violence and arguments between the two several times, most recently for a dispute in early April at Moore’s mother’s house, prosecutors said.

“This is a case where we see the classic ‘If he can’t have her no one can,’” Pisarcik said Tuesday. “Without even knowing Wesley Smith, the defendant went in that night with a loaded firearm, with the intention to take action if he found her there with anyone else.”

The plea deal, Highland said, was made with the approval of Smith’s family, and was “in the best interest of justice for everyone involved.”

The couple had broken up a few months before the fatal shooting, with Moore moving out of the unit they shared in the Walnut Arms Apartments, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for Moore’s arrest. His ex had forced him to give her his key, and told him he wasn’t allowed there uninvited.

But on the day before the shooting, the woman came home to find Moore sitting at her kitchen table in the dark. He had gained access to the apartment through its kitchen window.

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Moore beat and choked her, she later told police, and threatened to shoot her and anyone else she was dating, showing her his gun to underscore his point, the affidavit said. She didn’t report the matter at the time, she said, fearing that Moore would retaliate.

But the next day, Moore followed through on the threat he had made.

As she and Smith, her new boyfriend, were in the apartment’s bedroom, they heard the sound of glass breaking. Through the bedroom’s open door, she could see Moore climbing in through the bathroom window. He demanded to know who was with her and pointed his gun at Smith, the affidavit said.

Smith reached for his own gun, left on a nightstand nearby. The men exchanged gunfire, and both were heavily wounded, prosecutors said.

When police arrived, they found Smith, 21, shot multiple times, including in his face. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Moore had been shot in his chest and legs, and was flown to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City.

Investigators later learned that both Smith and Moore possessed permits to carry firearms. The handgun Smith used, a .45 caliber Glock, was registered to him. The other gun found at the scene, a 9mm Smith & Wesson, belonged to Moore.