In the early morning hours of May 31, 2016, a domestic dispute in Mesa, Arizona, escalated into a tragic and violent series of events that claimed the life of 41-year-old Nasbah Wright. The harrowing incident began with Nasbah making a 911 call to prevent her husband, Christopher Glen Wright, a former Phoenix police officer, from taking her vehicle.
During the call, which was intermittently disconnected, she informed the dispatcher that she was in the car with her husband and that he was becoming increasingly agitated.
The situation rapidly deteriorated as Christopher Wright, reportedly upset about the 911 call, began driving their SUV at high speeds through east Mesa. Nasbah's pleas for him to stop were captured on the 911 recording before the call was abruptly cut off by the sound of a crash. Christopher had intentionally wrecked the vehicle in an attempt to kill his wife. Surviving the crash, Nasbah managed to exit the vehicle and desperately sought help from a nearby pickup truck that had stopped at the scene.
The driver of the truck, 49-year-old Tomas Olivas Ornelas, a construction worker on his way to work, had paused to offer assistance. In a final, desperate call to 911, Nasbah could be heard stating that her husband had a rifle and was going to shoot her. Christopher Wright then approached Ornelas's truck with an AR-15 assault rifle and opened fire, shooting and killing the innocent bystander. He then turned the weapon on his wife, fatally shooting her. When police arrived, they found Nasbah deceased next to the passenger door of Ornelas's truck. Ornelas was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Christopher Wright was arrested at the scene. He initially attempted to flee but was ultimately taken into custody. In February 2017, he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. The defense claimed that as a former Marine, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Christopher Wright was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive natural life terms in prison for the murders of his wife, Nasbah Wright, and the Good Samaritan, Tomas Olivas Ornelas.
