Overview

• Purdy admitted approaching Wes Smith outside a West 7th Street bar on Sept. 1, 2023, and shooting him in the abdomen, shoulder and then the back of the head.
• Court records show he told detectives he was “sick of this” and had no remorse, and also acknowledged membership in a street gang.
• Witnesses said Purdy struck another bystander with his gun as students fled, and officers later arrested him in a Farrington Field parking lot.
• Defense attorneys had planned an insanity defense citing Purdy’s schizophrenia but abandoned it under the plea deal.
• Smith, 21, was a junior at Texas Christian University double-majoring in finance and strategic marketing and had secured an internship in Dallas.