A man attacked a father and son who own a financial firm before turning his gun on himself inside a Dallas office building Monday morning, Dallas police said.
Dallas police received a 911 call from Smith Financial, which is located inside the United Texas Bank building at 12222 Merit Drive, at 10:31 a.m. While officers were on the way, police got another call about gunfire in the 15-story building.
Dallas officers arrived at the building and were walking down a third-floor hallway when they heard a single gunshot.
"Officers thought they were being shot at and were in fear for their lives, so one officer fired at towards the suspect, but missed," Sgt. Kevin Janse said. "Apparently, the shot that the officers heard was the suspect shooting himself."
Police identified the shooter as Robert Mustard, 60.
The victims, Richard Smith, 66, and his son, Chris Smith, 39, knew the gunman, police said. Police said they believe Mustard was a disgruntled client of the Smiths' financial firm.
"The suspect is believed to be a past client that was unhappy over some business dealings," Janse said. "This was not a stranger-on-stranger offense."
Richard Smith was shot four times in the legs, and his son was shot in the neck and head. Both victims were transported to Parkland Hospital in Dallas and were in stable condition Tuesday.
Police said Mustard was transported to Baylor Hospital and was in very critical condition, police said. Mustard is not expected to survive.
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Police said he will be charged with two counts of aggravated assault if he survives.
People who work in the building were shaken by the shooting.
"We heard it was locked down, (that) there was a shooter on the loose," office worker Tanya Carr said.
She said people got under their desks while others ran.
Some bank employees were so scared, they locked themselves in the vault.
Clayton Mitchell, a longtime neighbor of Mustard's, said he was surprised by the shooting.
"He seemed like a nice guy," he said. "There didn't seem like any type of violence to him."
Mitchell said he has lived across from Mustard for years at an apartment complex near LBJ Freeway and Midway Road in North Dallas. 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 here (the apartment complex)."
Clerks at a nearby convenience store said Mustard is a regular customer. They recalled seeing him as recently as Sunday night.
“Something must have ticked him off for him to go to this point,” Mitchell said.
According to Dallas County court records, Mustard, who was a Dallas city attorney in the 1980s, spent nine months in Texas state prison for bribing a public servant in 1985.
Initial reports indicating the gunman exited an office, saw the officers and raised his weapon were not accurate. NBC DFW regrets the error.
NBCDFW's Grant Stinchfield contributed to this report.
