Lansdale Man Pleads Guilty to Fatal Shooting of Ex’s New Boyfriend on Walnut Street

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

A Lansdale man will spend decades in state prison after pleading guilty to the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Wesley Way Smith in April 2023.

Christopher Moore Jr., 21, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree murder on Tuesday, just before his trial was scheduled to begin, according to a report by Carl Hessler Jr. at The Reporter. Additional charges of first- and second-degree murder, as well as burglary, trespassing, and possession of a weapon, were dropped in exchange for his plea.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge William Carpenter sentenced Moore to 28 to 56 years in state prison, according to the report.

"We sought a significant sentence here to really encompass just how horrendous of a crime this was,” said William Highland III, who, along with Karla Pisarcik, prosecuted the case. "Mr. Smith was in there, he was innocent in all of this and unfortunately lost his life because of the jealousy of the defendant.”

Moore, who was supported in court by about a dozen friends and relatives, made no statements of remorse in court and declined to comment to a reporter.

WATCH: After admitting to fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, Christopher Scott Moore Jr. of Lansdale, Pa. didn’t comment about his 28-56 year prison term & offered no statement of remorse to victim’s family pic.twitter.com/lx8RE6Qadt
— Carl Hessler Jr. (@MontcoCourtNews) January 2, 2024

The report notes that defense attorney Michael Walker said his client was remorseful.

"He is extremely contrite. He recognizes what he did was absolutely wrong, but it was a situation that he found himself in because of this volatile relationship he had with his ex,” Walker said. "This innocent bystander was caught in between their dysfunction.”

Lansdale Borough Police were dispatched to the Walnut Arms Apartments along the 400 block of Walnut Street on April 17, 2023 at 11:09 p.m. for a report of a shooting. Arriving police found Smith dead on the floor of the master bedroom, and Moore suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Moore was airlifted from the scene to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.

Investigators said Smith was visiting his girlfriend at her apartment when Moore, who is the father of the woman’s children, allegedly broke into the apartment through a bathroom window, entered the bedroom and began shooting. Smith then returned fire before succumbing to his injuries, police said.

Two firearms and multiple fired shell casings were recovered at the scene, according to the release. An autopsy of Smith’s body was conducted by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, which determined he died as a result of sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. Smith’s manner of death was listed as homicide.

Investigators said that in the 11 months prior to the shooting, police had been dispatched to the apartment seven times for domestic incidents involving Moore and the mother of his children, including a call for assistance less than two weeks before the shooting. The criminal complaint can be read here.