The TCU flag will fly at half-staff on Wednesday in memory of Wes Smith, a junior finance major who on Sept. 1 was shot to death on 7th Street.

The decision was made by Chancellor Victor Boschini. A candlelight vigil for Smith is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Frog Fountain.

Smith, who was enrolled in the Neeley School of Business,  was also in a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and Young Life and the Reformed University Fellowship where he led weekly Bible studies.

Smith was also involved in athletics, playing on the TCU Football team in 2021 and volunteer coaching at All Saints Episcopal School with the middle school team.

Those closest to Smith described him as “an All-American guy, engaged student, a friend, an athlete and an exceptional leader, ” According to a campus wide email.

The junior was out in the West 7th area late Thursday night into early Friday morning.  He stood on the sidewalk in front of the bar “Your Mom’s House, when just after 1 a.m. someone approached him, ” according to an arrest warrant obtained from Fort Worth Police. The warrant described the encounter.

The man asked Smith if Smith knew his father, who had been assaulted in the past on 7th Street.

At 1:07 a.m., an officer patrolling the area heard gunshots in the direction of Bledsoe and Norwood Streets.

The officer arrived on the scene to find Smith, who had been shot three times.

An officer at Fort Worth’s Real Time Crime Center went through the surveillance footage, catching a male wearing a white T-shirt, dark pants, red ball cap and a backpack standing over the fallen Smith before fleeing toward South University Drive, assaulting someone else on the way.

FWPD asked for air support to find the fleeing gunman, who was stopped and detained less than a mile away from the scene of the crime.

According to the warrant, the suspect, 21-year-old Matthew Purdy Jr., was on probation in Tarrant County for Aggravated Robbery. He said in his statement to police that he would have shot more people if he hadn’t run out of ammunition.

At 1:46 a.m., Smith was pronounced dead at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital.

Purdy is currently in custody on a murder charge with a $500,000 bond amount.