ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Christopher Romero, the man accused of assaulting officers and starting a fire at an Albuquerque apartment complex, is now in jail. Police say Romero threatened to stab his brother and yelled at a neighbor at the Candlelight Square Apartments at Montgomery and Pennsylvania last Friday.
Court documents state that he broke into a stranger’s apartment and got more aggressive when police arrived. They say he was holding a pellet gun in an attempt to get the officers to shoot him. He also is accused of swinging a bat and throwing a knife, throwing a burning shirt, and other objects. Police say Romero then went back into the apartment and lit a fire saying he was “going to wait for it to burn down.”
He was eventually taken into custody and the fire was extinguished. The woman who lived there lost everything.
Romero was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center Tuesday after a hospital stay and made his first appearance in court Wednesday. Prosecutors are seeking pretrial detention in the case.
