Richard Smith says he and his family are still trying to figure out what happened Monday morning. That’s when police said Robert Mustard, 60, barged into a Dallas office building and shot Smith, 66, and his son Chris Smith, 39.
Richard Smith was shot four times in the legs. Chris Smith was shot in the neck and head, police said.
Mustard then turned the gun on himself when cornered by police, authorities said. Mustard died two days later at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.
The elder Smith was released from Parkland Hospital on Saturday, his son was still there and listed in good condition. Smith said his son is doing better than could be expected.
“I think Chris is going to make a 100% recovery,” Smith said of his son during a telephone interview Saturday with NBCDFW.
Smith said he did not know when his son would be released from Parkland Hospital.
“If you want to do something [for us], pray for us and Chris, and say a prayer for the shooter, who was a tortured soul," the elder Smith said. “And pray for his family, they lost a family member too, and had nothing to do with it.”
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“Any guy in the world, if he could have one thing that’s precious, it would be a good son," Richard Smith said. "That’s what he was trying to take from me, and he didn’t succeed.”
Mustard was a past client of the Smith’s, who run a financial services company. Smith said he knew Mustard well.
Mustard was a Dallas city attorney in the 1980’s who, according to Dallas County court records, spent nine months in prison for bribing a public servant in 1985.
Mustard’s neighbors at an apartment complex near LBJ Freeway and Midway Road in North Dallas said the shooting surprised them.
“He seemed like a nice guy,” neighbor Clayton Mitchell said after the shooting. “There didn’t seem like any type of violence in him.”
Mitchell said he has lived across from Mustard for years. He said he had just spoken to Mustard on Sunday.
”He kept to himself," Mitchell said. "You didn’t see him other than at the store or walking through [the apartment complex]."
Clerks at a nearby convenience store said Mustard is a regular customer. They recalled seeing him the night before the shooting.
“Something must have ticked him off for him to go to this point,” Mitchell said.
Since Mustard has died, Dallas police said they would not file any charges.
Meanwhile, Smith is asking for some time alone with his thoughts.
“I’ve always heard of miracles, but I’ve never seen one,” Richard Smith said. “If you look at where the entry angle was and the weapon that was used, it was truly and utterly a miracle.”
