Shooter Charged With Murder Over 'Door Ding' In Bedford
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BEDFORD (CBSDFW.COM) - In Bedford, a husband and father is dead—another man is charged with his murder. And police say it all started with a dinged door in a shopping center parking lot.
"You left somebody without a husband, you left kids without a Dad. For what? A $200 fix on a door?!" Alishia Smith knows that her questions have no good answers. She says her husband, 28-year-old Sam Smith, wasn't perfect. But, she says he was a good husband and father to their 2-year-old daughter Samantha—and he didn't deserve to die over a dinged door. "For real?! Did you really feel that threatened?" she asks with tears rolling down her face.
She knows that we have no answers—and there are none that will change her situation. In addition to their toddler the couple was expecting their second child next month. "Now, she's not even going to have a chance to know her dad."
"The conversation started off fine, I believe," recounts Lt. David Smith, Bedford Police, "before it turned hostile. Both of them stated they had weapons. The victim made a movement, the other man felt he was going for a weapon and he responded."
According to Lt. Smith, the shooter is licensed to carry a weapon. But, it is not a license to kill. He was initially charged with murder and taken into custody. Today, a judge ordered the shooter's release citing a lack of probable cause—however, the murder charges remain. "The case is still open, even though the suspect has been released, pending further investigation, according to the judge," says Lt. Smith, "it is still an open case."
Police later learned that Smith was not armed. Alishia Smith says her husband did not own a weapon and couldn't say whether he would have made such a claim. Still, the questions continue.
"Shooting somebody in the face … and shooting somebody in the chest? I'm pretty sure after he got shot the first time, you realized that he did not have a gun in his hand? So why would you shoot 4 or 5 more times. That doesn't make any sense."
Residents say the shopping center is popular after work stop for families—and it is troubling that so many of them were put in danger because of a dinged door.
"Think of all the women that get off work, pick their children up at daycare and bring them to the grocery store—it just should not be. It's so sad," says Peggy Matthews. She, too, is a frequent visitor at the shopping center. But, Matthews also spent nearly two decades as a probation officer and says she has too often seen lives ruined because anger goes unchecked.
"If more people would sit back, take a deep breath, count to ten, whatever it takes before they react—because they're going to pay for it for years and years to come," says Matthews. "I saw so many men crying on the stand going—'I wish that I had that moment to do over again'," and then adding, "anger comes first—and then it's regret."
Alishia Smith struggles with a combination of both.
"It is senseless, it is senseless," says Smith, "it doesn't matter whether you have a gun license or not, you need to know your limits-- that was too much--that was way too much: a car door for a human life."
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