A crazed Texas gunman was sentenced to 60 years in prison for randomly shooting a Texas Christian University student three times, including once in the back of the head, as the victim’s father slammed the killer’s “dark and ugly soul.”
Matthew Purdy pleaded guilty on Thursday to fatally shooting 21-year-old Wes Smith outside “Your Mom’s House” bar in the West 7th District of Fort Worth, Texas, just after 1 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2023.
Smith, a walk-on at the private D1 FBS school during the 2021 season, was getting his friend into a car to go home when Purdy approached him, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said.
Purdy, who was 21 at the time of the shooting, approached Smith to ask if he knew who his father was before pulling out a gun and shooting the TCU student, WFAA reported, citing a police affidavit.
The junior finance major was struck twice by the crazed gunman’s bullets, once in the stomach and another in the shoulder, before collapsing to the ground.
Purdy shot Smith a third time in the back of the head as the student lay on the sidewalk to make sure he was dead, the gunman told police, according to the outlet.
During the chaos, Purdy pistol-whipped an 18-year-old woman attempting to flee the area.
Purdy was arrested by police two blocks from the shooting scene.
Purdy, now 23, told investigators he physically attacked the unidentified teen woman and would’ve shot more people, but he had run out of ammo, according to KXAS-TV.
He was expected to stand trial in July. His defense team had filed for an insanity defense, claiming Purdy suffered from schizophrenia and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the local station reported.
His attorneys also claimed Purdy’s mother had a history of mental health illnesses and abused drugs and alcohol during the pregnancy.
Purdy pleaded guilty to Smith’s murder, the aggravated assault against the teen and eight other felonies, including robbery, credit card abuse and evidence tampering.
The murder carried 60 years in prison, and the assault an additional 20 years.
He was on probation for aggravated robbery at the time of the shooting, according to WFAA reported.
Purdy was sentenced to a whopping 206 years behind bars, which he will serve concurrently.
Smith’s father, Phillip, hailed his son as a hero for taking the extra bullet, Purdy’s last, so that it couldn’t kill anyone else.
The elder Smith ripped into Purdy during the sentencing hearing Thursday, calling out the evil in the man who killed his son.
“You have a dark and ugly soul – if you have any soul at all,” Phillip Smith said.
The heartbroken father claimed Purdy murdered more than just his son because of the way he acted during the court proceedings.
“You physically murdered and executed Wes, but you emotionally and psychologically murdered thousands of other people, including probably everyone in this courtroom,” Phillip Smith said, according to the outlet.
Smith would have graduated from TCU in May.
He was remembered by his mother, Doree Smith, as a wonderful person who knew how to bring the best out of people.
“This story could have had a different ending, because Wes had a heart to help. If you had just spoken to him, if you had reached out without lashing out, I promise you that Wes would have met you with compassion,” the grieving mother told Purdy in court. “You didn’t know Wes. You’d never met him, but in that moment, you made a devastating, senseless, evil choice. You decided that you mattered more than he did.”
“Wes is now in Heaven. You are still on Earth,” she continued. “You have a chance to give your story a different ending. I pray you can find a different ending by finding God’s love. Live like Wes.”
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