Tome man arrested, charged in shooting death of woman

ADELINO — A Tomé man has been arrested and charged with an open count of first degree murder in the shooting death of a 29 year-old-woman early Wednesday morning.

During questioning, Pete Romero, 37, told deputies he accidentally shot Jasmine Christanelli, 29, while they were sitting in an SUV at a home on Ciriaco Lane on Wednesday, July 9.

“I don’t even know what happened ... like ... the gun just went off bro,” Romero said at the beginning of the interview.

According to the criminal complaint, Romero said he and Christanelli were sitting in a red SUV at the Ciriaco home, “getting high, smoking pills,” when a man approached the vehicle with a revolver. Romero said he didn’t know the man by name, but thought he was trying to sell the gun.

Romero said as he was looking at the revolver, it went off. The round hit his right hand and Christanelli’s torso, low on her left side. Romero took Christanelli to the Valencia County Fire Station on N.M. 47, which is currently unmanned due to renovations, and when no one answered the door, took her to the Adelino Early Childhood Development Center, which is immediately to the south of the fire station.

Employees at the center called 911 when they saw Christanelli was injured. When deputies arrived on scene shortly after 7:30 a.m., they found Romero performing CPR on Christanelli, who was lying on the ground near the SUV.

When deputies talked to Romero at the scene, he told them he and Christanelli were driving southbound on Manzano Expressway near Las Maravilles subdivision when they heard a loud pop, and Christanelli said she had been shot. Romero said he took South Rio Del Oro Road to La Entrada before taking another road to N.M. 47 and the Adelino center.

After Romero’s hand injury was treated by medical personnel, deputies discovered he had an outstanding bench warrant issued by the Los Lunas Magistrate court for failure to appear in regards to charges from January 2024, including possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, trafficking a controlled substance and aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, and he was held at the scene.

Later that morning, officers visited a home on Ciriaco Lane near where Romero and Christanelli lived in regards to an abandoned 911 call. Deputies interviewed a woman who said while she didn’t call 911, she did hear what she thought was a gunshot from the property where the two lived.

Deputies interviewed several people at the second Ciriaco Lane home who also hear what they described as a “pop,” and at least one witness told them Romero may have accidentally shot Christanelli.

Romero is being held at the Valencia County Detention Center.