The female that you uh that your son shot at, she has died. Oh my god. Oh my god. Meet Christina Wroe. Just hours ago, she helped her son commit a horrific crime. My mom handed me the the gun after that. I let off three shots. And no matter how innocent these two act, they will be outsmarted because of one simple mistake. If she was walking towards you, why is there a gunshot in her back? I have to go deliver the news to somebody's family that their daughter or their mother is dead. Around noon on April 3rd, 2023, panic erupted at a small apartment complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dozens of 911 callers and witnesses reported seeing two individuals shoot a woman in the parking lot. When officers arrived, they found 31-year-old Monnique Garcia on the ground, shot three times. She would die from her injuries moments later. Fortunately, it didn't take long for police to find a lead. Next to Mo'Nique was 44year-old Christina Wro, a resident of the complex, attempting to hide bullet casings from the gun used in the shooting. At first, Christina took the blame, claiming she was the shooter. But witness testimonies painted a different picture. According to them, the shooter wasn't Christina, but her 18-year-old son, Christian Crespen. Even more alarming was the fact that Christina told him to flee the scene, which he did, not before flipping off Mo'Nique as she lay dying on the ground. Oddly enough, the same witnesses also stated they saw Mo'Nique charging towards Christina and Christian. So, were they just defending themselves, or was this premeditated murder? To get answers, detectives needed to find Christian, which became their main focus for the next 24 hours. A day later, Christian was found at a friend's house and brought in for questioning along with his mother. Now, detectives hope to figure out if this really was self-defense or something much darker. The following footage has been provided to us by the Albuquerque Police Department. Uh, Christian, what's your phone number? Awesome. Cool. So, tell me a little bit about yourself. How are you in general? Uh, I don't know. I just play usually chill with my friends. Yeah. Uh, work. Nice. Where you work? Uh, Chevron. Chevron. Which one you work at? Uh, the one on San Montgomery. Oh, that's a busy one. How do you like it? Yeah, it's pretty nice. Got a lot of homeless come in and stuff. What else do you like to do? I like to go take pictures in my car and then a lot of times me and my friends will go up to the trails. So, you go hiking or what do you guys do? Yeah, we go hiking. Free climb. Oh, you actually you know what's funny about free climbs? So, since I moved here, um I've been learning a lot about like limestone. So, um have you ever been up to the Where is it at? In the foothills. No. Foothills. They like pretty much like the rocks like mass produce limestone. And limestone is actually a lot easier on the fingers when you're going to free climb because it allows like an actual grip when you free climb. Do you guys um do you guys take pads and stuff in a free climb? Not usually. No. No. That's kind of scary. Never free climb before. It's scary. That's like you fall to your death on that one. That's pretty cool. You said you like cars. Yeah. So, what kind of cars you have? Um, all cars in general. So, but mostly like Lamborghinis and Camarines. The fast ones. That's cool. Do you um like work on your cars and stuff like that? Um, yeah. I go to school for it. So, Oh, do you? Yeah. Nice. Do you like sports or anything like that? Uh, yeah. I like football. Football? I don't know much about football. Did Wisconsin your Wisconsin? The football team? Yeah. Packers. They're all right. Yeah. That's not your team though. No. What's your team? Uh, the 49ers [Music] All right, I get it. That's fine. What looks like harmless small talk is actually a masterclass in building rapport. Christian, just 18 and facing a murder investigation, is tense and emotionally shut down at first, but after about 30 minutes of casual talk, he appears far more relaxed than when he first entered the room. So, when the detective finally shifts to questions about the events leading up to the shooting, he cracks open like a box of chocolates. Um, how was yesterday? Talk to me about your day yesterday. Um, I don't know. Just nothing really. You bought a new tire. Um, got something to eat. Yeah. Yeah. What happened to your tire? Um, old, so I had to replace it, get bald. So, It was expensive. Yeah. How much was it? Well, I only paid 45 for it. Oh, where'd you go? Um, you went to the hood somewhere to get that kind of a deal. Chau's tire shop on Zoney Pass Louisiana. Okay. Yeah. Check it out. Some tires. Louisiana. Zonies. Yeah. Cool. Where'd you get the wheat or did you go by yourself? Just Wendy's. Nice. What'd you get there? Just a frosty. I'm going to frosty in a minute. You get fries. Yeah. You got to dip the fries in the frost. Who'd you go to eat with? My mom. Christina, right? Yeah. What time did you guys do that? Um I think it was around like 10:00. Oh, you went early. Yeah, cuz uh they open around like 8:30, so we went at like around 9. Okay. Tire place. Oh, around 9:00. Yeah. Did you are you able to like I mean I guess because you work on your own cars like so did did they replace your tire or you you replaced it? Well I take it off and then I just take it to them so they don't charge me the labor fee for the putting it all in the car and taking it off. Gotcha. Okay. What time did you get home from Wendy's? Wendy's around 10:30ish. Okay. Um what did you do when you got home? Um I was just changing the tire. Oh, okay. Did you have your impact tool? No. No. So, talk to me about when you were changing your tire. Talk to me about that. Um, I don't know. She was just talking to me while I was changing it. Mhm. Who was? Uh, my mom. What are you guys talking about? Um, we were just talking about what we were going to do for the day and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so as far as, um, after you're changing your tire, um, where were you? Um, you said your advertise, were you guys on the street in the parking lot? parking lot. Okay. Did your mom help you do that or no? Uh, no, usually not. Okay. Um, who came by when you guys were in the parking lot? Um, I'm not sure. I didn't really see anyone. So, um, I mean, I seen a few cars pass by. Do you guys talk with anybody? Not usually, though. Unless like the neighbors come out. Did the neighbors come out? No. Everybody was inside? Yeah. Okay. Um, so what time did you leave your apartment yesterday? Um, I want to say around like 11:30ish or 12 or somewhere around there in the morning. In the Yeah, in the morning. Okay. 11:30, 12. Where'd you go after that? Um, I just went to my friends and we chilled and then he said he had to go do something. So, I went and chilled with another friend and that's basically what I did all day. What friends did you first go to? Um, so first I went to my friend Jay's. Mhm. And then I went to my other friend Dylan's or well we met up at a park but yeah. What parking is good? Um the one on it's a little bit wants a bow on Lomus to the right. I'm pretty sure want Lis. Okay. Sorry. How's that work? It's pretty nice. I didn't even know we're there. So, um, so we're here because we want to know exactly what happened yesterday. Okay. And, um, I think it's important for us to hear your side of exactly what happened. We've we've talked with a few people. Um so I'm I I am interested in hearing your side of what happened. I think it's important especially with something like this. Um so I just want to backtrack just a little bit um to when you're changing your tire in the parking lot. Yes. So let's talk about that one. All right. Um so while I was changing my tire um my mom saw someone go towards the back of the apartments where they're not supposed to be. Um, so the first apartment in the back there actually someone rents. On top of that, the nether one, the next one after that is also rented out and then the other two I believe are abandoned um because they were infested. And so a lot of the times like go back there. Yeah. And so she um she told her not to go back there and she's all get off the property and all this my mom. And so she pulled out her gun as the was walking away was like, "You better get off the property." And so when that happened, started to walk towards my mom and uh my mom handed me the the gun after that was like here. So I let off three shots. According to Christian, he and his mom went to Wendy's for breakfast around 9 or 10:00 a.m. After that, they returned home at around 10:30 and began changing a bald tire on their car. In the span of the next few hours, they saw Mo'Nique coming up to them, confrontational and aggressive. And this is when everything went wrong. Christina handed Christian the gun and told him to shoot around her, which ended in tragedy. On the surface, this incident might seem like it was either an accident or that the two were trying to protect themselves. However, there is only one problem. An autopsy of Mon'nique's body revealed that one of the three bullets had entered through the back. This means that at some point, she attempted to run away after the first two shots, and Christian still pulled the trigger. So, was it still self-defense at that point? And did Mo'nique still pose a threat? These are the key questions detectives must answer to determine whether this was self-defense or homicide. When your mom handed you the gun, did she say anything to you? Um, she said, uh, shoot around her and not towards her, and that's what I did. But when you um, what gun were you shooting? Uh, my dad's, my stepdad's. Was that the brown gun? Yeah. Okay. Um, where were you in the parking lot when you So, I was at the end there where the two spaces are. I was in the second space. Yeah. I walked from where I was changing my tire and I shot through the fence. You shot through the fence. Okay. And I'm sorry cuz I'm This area is big. I was This is like the fence. And we'll say the two parking spots. I was I was standing right here while she was standing right there. Your mom. So this was the the homeless lady as she was starting to walk away and then she came. Okay. She was coming at my mom. So Okay. How was she coming at your mom? um like aggressively like saying, "Oh, I'm not afraid of a gun. Shoot me." So, um I'm not sure. I didn't look. So, did you see her with any weapons? So, you're So, you're here. And she's over here. Yes. And you said she was walking away. Yes. And then so my mom comes back or my mom's standing right there with so my mom would be like right there standing with me. And so as she's walking away um she starts she pulls out the gun and uh the residents are with it like get off the property or I'll shoot you. And so she starts walking towards my mom and so that's when my mom handed me the gun. Okay. and I let off three shots to try and scare her away, but I guess one hit. How do you feel? Um, it's not how I would think I would feel. Um, I just don't know. It's hard to process. I understand. Have you ever shot with a gun like that before? Well, yeah, I've gone shooting. So, yeah. Um, when you were here and you were pointing the firearm, the gun at her? Yes. Um, was your mom saying anything to her? Um, I don't believe so, but I'm not sure. Okay. And what was she saying? Um, she was all, "Shoot me, shoot me." Is all I'm not afraid of no gun. And then you let off three shots. Yeah. Where were you aiming at when you let out those shots? Um I was just aiming outward like this and just boom boom. So, and um so when the first shot went off, you said you shot through the fence, right? Yes. Okay. Um how far away is that? Um in real life, it's about I would say like 20 or 30 ft. Okay. And that's when you let off the first shot. Yeah. Okay. And then um when did you let off the other ones? Well, I let them off all like in So after the first one I let off, I started to let off the other two as well. Okay. What did you do after? Um my mom told me to leave after, so I just left. And is that where you you went to your friend's house after that? Yeah. Okay. And um did you uh take the gun with you? Where's the gun? No, I have I'm not sure where the gun is. She took it with her. So, did so you gave it Did you give the mom your the I'm sorry. I gave the gun the gun to your mom? Yeah. Okay. And um did what happened? So, you just left right away. You didn't see anything else after that? No, she told me to leave so I just left. Okay. Did you think about calling 911? Um no, not really. Everybody over there calling 911, so Okay. Um, you said you went back to your house a little bit later on. What did you get when you went back to your house? Um, I didn't grab nothing. So, I was going to, but there's a lot of stuff. So, yeah. And then my room. So, as far as um your intention when you pointed the gun at her, what was your intention? Um, scare away. Now that we've heard Christian's side, it's time to hear from Christina. and her reasoning for handing over the gun might be the most troubling part of this entire case. We apologize in advance for Christina's fidgeting, which makes it sound like she's flushing a toaster down the toilet. Tell me what you dealt with. I would love to hear what you had to deal with. This woman, she was walking. She looked like she was running my neighbor's back while neighbor been a lot and we stick up for each other. I don't know her really well, but I do know that she saw her son shot eight times in front of her in her home to go through some ex-husband. I don't know the whole story and I'm pretty sure that she does drugs here and there on this side which I don't agree with cuz I'm not a drug user but I thought you know just you know like I can't imagine what so anyway I was tell I don't don't go in that walkway don't stay out of the alleyway stay off of this property please you So, and then she started screaming. I'm just getting this laundry basket and yelling and I was like, "Please just leave. Just leave. Just leave." You know, "Please leave." And my son's here. Like, I would feel protective. And I was scared because all these people that come up, you never know what they're going to do. You don't know what almost everybody in our neighborhood has some kind of weapon on them. My husband made me so cute. I don't like guns. And I think it was because he was really shooting before and I I just don't I don't trust myself. I'm not a good shot. I don't I don't like that kind of stuff, you know. And she she started she screaming and then she was walking and then she turned around and she was like running towards me and I was who she don't know drug addict like they're and it's always been one like every day. Have you seen her before? No. Never? Not that I can remember. They all look the same to me. I'm not trying to be mean, but there there's always different people there in that neighborhood in front of the houses. I've never experienced anything like this before. It puts a lot of stress on you, especially as a parent. When I had my daughter crying in the middle of the night, I had to get up and the dogs were barking and somebody screaming. One time someone came and busted one of the windows and they just broke the lock. They always break the locks on the gate so we don't even get to feel safe in our walkways. All my kids do. They're all trained to use a gun except for me really stupid that So she starts coming. I asked him if he could put one one only a few feet away from her, not hit her because I know he's a good shot. So she cuz I was afraid for she's scared me. My friends, I'm afraid for my life. I don't want and I don't want to cuz I'm not a good shot. I don't want to shoot because because I might actually hit her by accident cuz I don't know how to shoot that good. And so he he he said yes. I I said I almost don't hurt but I'm scared you know like and I'm so sorry I didn't understand that. He said yes and I said I don't know why I like I just ran away with this is so stupid. I feel like I feel in the world. Why would I do that? I didn't mean I don't know what I was thinking. I've never done anything like this before. So, you asked him, "Can you put one next to her?" Next to her like 2 feet away. They're so stupid. Next. Handing a gun to your son and making him kill somebody because you're not confident using it yourself isn't exactly going to win Christina mother of the year. But was she acting out of fear? Did she hand the gun to Christian because she truly believed she was protecting herself? That would be what you might think if it weren't for one glaring question. Why did she tell him to run? That one decision shifts the focus from self-defense to something far more suspicious. To get to the truth, detectives need to examine intent. Not just Christina's, but Christians, too. And legally, intent is divided into four key categories. One, deliberate. Did he intentionally mean to kill? Two, reckless. Did he understand the risk of shooting the gun and choose to act anyway? Three, negligent. Was he unaware of the risk altogether? Four, accidental. Was it a complete accident? So, which one is it for Christian? So, tell me how you felt when she was walking yelling at your mom. Um, I felt like she was going to attack my mom. What do you mean attack your mom? Uh, physically harm her. You didn't see anything on their hands, right? Uh, no. Besides like her body gestures, no. And then your mom hands you? Yes. Which you already said your it's your stepdad's gun, right? Okay. And you point it at her. Yes. And you shoot at her? Uh, not directly at her, to the side of her. And I shoot. Yeah. Okay. And you shot me. Yes. Okay. You then said that she then walks down the street. Okay. And that's all I know. Do you see her? No, I don't see her after that. Um, after she walks down the street, I don't know where she went. So, but earlier you said that you knew she got shot. Yeah, I read the news report. So, So, and you say you don't know how you feel, but can you try to explain to me how you feel? Um, it's like I don't know. I don't know. It's just hard to explain. Do you see her phone? No. You just see her walking away, get the gun back to her and then you I get in the car and I drive away cuz my mom drive off. So, did at any point did you ever feel that you needed to turn yourself in. Um, yeah, it's probably better that way. At least she, you know, would have a better chance. My mom, the actual person who shot, even if it wasn't intentional, still better than someone who didn't. So you didn't mean to pull the trigger. Not going to say I didn't cuz I take my mom again. So you mention things. I went back to my house but didn't grab nothing. So, so by that it kind of makes me believe that you were going to grab things. I plan to. Yeah. What were you planning on doing then? Uh going to my friend's house. Same place I was at. Same place y'all got me. Call it. Did you tell your friend what happened? He knows. What' your siblings tell you? Well, I say that, but what your stepdad tell you when you went home? Do you just look? No. Did you know who this was? Have you ever seen her before? Can you describe what she looked like to me? Um, darker lady, longer hair, and some ripped up clothes. I think that's all I know. Did you see any tattoos or anything like that on there? No. Um, other than dirt being her body, you couldn't see anything else. Okay. Um, was she carrying anything? Um, I don't think so. No. Did she have a purse or anything like that? Do you know? From his statements, it's clear that if put in the same situation, he would do the exact same thing, no matter how excessive the force or even if Mo'Nique were running away. Now, it's time for his own mother and partner in crime to lay out her intent in the very same way because it's entirely possible she gave the gun to Christian in the first place to avoid being the one to pull the trigger. So, you have So, you gave the gun to Christian and you said, "Can you put one can you put one next to her, but you wanted him just to like shoot her like two to three feet away from her away from her?" And then you said he shot two more rounds after. Yeah. I think because she kept coming towards us and I think he was getting afraid, you know, that she was coming to do something to us. I don't know what he was thinking. I don't know what he was thinking. And um my baby, where did those other two rounds go? I don't know. I think it was I think it was the last one that possibly hit her because she didn't say anything. And I was like, "Oh, thank God." Because I that scared me when he pulled the trigger to I was like, "Oh my god, it's like saw us fixing like that and it looked like to me it looks like it was possibly too close. So I was I kind of froze in a second you know but she was like I said she shooted the gate and then she was turn had turned back around and she was coming back towards so I don't know what he was thinking if he was getting scared because she was screaming when he first started shooting I mean the first shot and then he would and then it was like a pause and then it was again and again. What happened after that third shot with the gun with the gun now? Did he give it to you? So you said give me that. Did he give you the gun? Yes. Okay. And then what happened after that? He was afraid. I was afraid. And next we should wait because like no. Right after that I right after I got the gun print on I was like oh my gosh. Cuz I heard the girl say you shot me home girl. And I was like I was like I was like no I didn't. Like but I don't see anything. Like you look fine to me. Cuz she turned around and she was walking away towards the Murphy's on the sidewalk. I'm like, is she walking after she shot? I thought she was [ __ ] I thought cuz a lot of people in that neighborhood, you can't believe anything they say. When did she start walking away after the first shot? No, after the third shot. After the third shot, she was walking towards us then and then she had turned around and started walking away. So, I thought, "Oh, thank God nothing happened." That's what I thought. I thought nothing happened. I thought she was okay. Oh, thank God. I was I was scared that she didn't want anything and it wasn't good around us anymore after that cuz I was scared the [ __ ] out of me and I really thought she was okay. I didn't think she was it. And then it was one of the neighbors yelled across like she got that. I said, "No, she did it." And then she was like, "No, she really got that." And I seen them run over to her and she kind of sat down and then we're helping her. I was like, "Oh my gosh, you're taking a shot." I got so and then I told my neighbor my neighbor was standing there r she's not she's right before and I was like oh my gosh cuz she goes I'm on the phone with the place was her husband came outside and I said but it was me I don't want them to be afraid because I know that they're my neighbor I said it was me but it was me that was my gun and you know I was like but it was an accident and so I I yelled and they were there cuz my neighbor was calling the police already you know like so because obviously She needs help out, right? This woman and my phone was dead, so I couldn't call 911. I ran to my front door and I told my son David when something bad happened and I can't come in the house but take my phone cuz it's dead charge of police came up and they were just kind of seeing everything and I was like, "Can you please call my husband?" And I just told him he got on the phone. He was at work and I said, "I'm sorry. I think I saw so many and I I feel like I feel like there's one or two things that you're leaving out and I I do want you to be honest about this part. Okay. I actually told you the whole was the girl that was yelling at you. You said she was walking towards you. She walked you grabbed the whatever basket you said she was grabbing. I couldn't see on the other side of my son's car and started walking. [Music] So, I'm going to ask you this question and maybe you can answer this for me. If she was walking towards you, why is there a gunshot in her back? Right here when she said she got shot. Okay. So, why is there a gunshot on her back? I hope she was walking towards his Did your Did your son shoot her as she was walking away? As she turned, I have I have no That's important right now. I'm Did your son shoot her? No, I'm almost 100% positive that she was looking at us the whole time. And then she grabbed herself, she turned around, she started walking and she said, "I'm" And then she turned back around and she said, "You shot me home, girl." That's what she said. And I was like, "What?" But I didn't see him made her in the back. She was facing towards us. Like, you know what happened so fast? That's that's my honest answer of what I think. But I really do. I don't think he keep in mind that at this point, Christina is completely unaware that Mo'Nique passed away in the hospital, but that will change very soon. So right now um sure make sure I ask you so your son I'll agree which I mean you guys both put yourself in a very tough spot. Okay and you know it's an unfortunate situation. Um but I'm going to be honest with you. I have to be. But I also you know I understand where you're coming from. I understand the situation you were put in and you know your son shooting but um I don't know what he thought he was first hit her. First and foremost I tell you the female that you that your son shot at. She has died. Oh my god. Oh my god. So unfortunately um a homicide. Okay. What we are doing here is we have a job and right now our job is to find out exactly what happened. Um I will put that you were honest and truthful and you were cooperative with police. I will put that in my report. Okay. You are going to be facing some you're going to be facing some serious charges. Okay. And I am Yes. just and I have to shocked right now. I have to go deliver the news to somebody's family that their daughter or their mother is dead. And your son your son has to Yes, your son has to answer for that. Okay. Because he pulled the trigger. And yes, you have capability in this because you handed him the firearm and you said what you said. We have tons of witnesses. Okay? I want you to understand there's a lot of witnesses that saw what happened. So, we knew what happened going into this, but your honesty, you know, it goes a long way with us. So, thank you for that. Um, but as of tonight, um, would you like to know your charges? Um, so tonight you will be charged with um an open count of murder. You're going to be charged with aggravated assault. Um, hold on. Conspiracy. Oh, no. conspiracy and also tampering with evidence. Tampering with evidence because when you pick up the casings and you take a gun and you remove that stuff, that's that's a crime. Okay? You can't when something like this happens. I'm not saying, you know, I'm not going to give you any advice, but don't ever touch anything. Don't take the gun to help your son or don't give your son a gun and say, [Music] But I since you've been cooperative, okay, like I will do something for you. Um I know your husband, he asked me to call and let him know what was going on. What will happen from here is we'll book you into MDC. Your son will be eventually. So all of that is that's something that they talk with your lawyer about. Um you'll talk eventually, you know, you'll that's that's something we don't do that part of it. We just do and I'm going to be locked up until everything that's also up to a judge. Um you have after this you'll have like an arraignment which goes to a grand complaint with making what do they call it a running risk or so that you'll have a detention hearing eventually and the judge will rule or determine whether you could do pending trial and that is something that your lawyer will discuss with you. Over the next few minutes, detectives walk Christina through what to expect following her arrest. Not long after, Christian is given the same rundown, and it begins to sink in that his life, too, is about to change forever. That there's probably something better we could have done that immediately pulled the gun out. But like what? What do you think could have been better? I don't know. Could have called the cops. My mom could have fall instead instead of just gone to the gun. I don't know. There's a lot of stuff you could have done. Asking what you could have done different and asking how you feel. How I feel that it was the wrong choice. You feel bad at all? Yeah. I'd rather not have people die. I'd rather not die either. So, what we're trying to do is just get what's in your head. You know, how you feel, how you felt, you know, during this moment. I think you've been extremely honest. So, I appreciate that, man. Okay. This whole situation is just really unfortunate. I have to go do an exit notification after this and let the family know that their daughter has died and also have a little boy now doesn't have a mom. So, I have to go make that. And I know that's not your issue. It's not your problem, but you know, we're here because of that. You're young, man. You're really young. And everybody's in a bad spot because of this. Your mom's in a bad spot. You're in a very bad spot as well. Okay. you know, you're being charged, right? Did they say you did not tell me? So, as of right now, um, you have an arrest warrant or you have an arrest warrant. Um, you're going to be charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence probably tends to at this point. Okay. Do you have any questions for us at all? No. Well, it's unfortunate we met under these circumstances, man. Um, I wish you best of luck with everything in the future. Um, I hope you make better choices. All right. Um, do you have any questions for us at all? No. Do you need water? Do you want to use restroom? [Music] Okay, that's good. Have you been arrested or anything like that before? No. No. Okay. When you get up there, they allow you a phone call. Okay. Um, I'd offered to get you some numbers, but I can't go through your phone. Um, do you want to write any numbers down or anything? Nothing. Okay. When the trial for this mother son duo began, Christian's defense initially claimed he had a brain injury. But that argument didn't hold for long. In September 2024, Christian Crespen accepted a plea deal and plead guilty to seconddegree murder, meaning the act was malicious but not premeditated. He was sentenced to 18 years, the maximum allowed under the agreement. Christina, on the other hand, was hit with several charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit a felony, and tampering with evidence. As of April 2025, she is still awaiting trial.