Fort Worth mayor has personal tie to TCU student Wes Smith shot in ‘senseless violence’
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Wes Smith
Texas Christian University junior and former Horned Frog football team member Wes Smith was fatally shot in the West 7th district in the early hours of Sept. 1, 2023. Here’s everything we know about what happened.
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The murder of TCU student Wes Smith was personal for Fort Worth’s mayor.
Mayor Mattie Parker said Friday that Smith, a junior finance major shot and killed by a stranger in the West 7th district, was “a remarkable young man” who coached her son’s football team.
“Early this morning, Wes Smith was shot and killed in a senseless act of gun violence,” Parker said in a written statement. “Wes was a TCU student and a remarkable young man who impacted countless lives including my own son as a football coach for his middle school team. Our family is praying and grieving for the entire TCU community and especially for Wes’ family and friends.”
[MORE: City has tried to curb crime in West 7th district before]
Of the West 7th district, Parker said city leaders and police “must work diligently together with bar and business owners in the area in the coming days to find additional solutions and continue collaborative efforts to make the area safer.”
Police said they arrested 21-year-old Matthew Purdy within minutes of the shooting early Friday morning on Bledsoe Street, about a block from University Drive.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Purdy told homicide detectives that he approached Smith, 21, on the street outside a bar and shot him three times but could not say why he did it.
As Purdy tried to escape, he also hit a witness in the head with his handgun, police said. Read what he told police here.
In the past year, police have made efforts to reduce crime in the popular West Seventh entertainment district.
“I commend FWPD for taking swift action to prevent more lives from being lost,” Parker said.
Read the latest in Star-Telegram’s coverage:
- Suspect in TCU student’s slaying couldn’t say why he killed him.
- TCU student’s pastor in Tennessee reacts to his murder
- West 7th residents, bartenders say crime is escalating
- Who is Matthew Purdy, suspect in murder of TCU student?
This story was originally published September 1, 2023 at 8:43 PM.
