The man charged with the capital murder of two dentists in Smith County was always a difficult patient, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Dr. Jack Burroughs, Jr. and Dr. Blake Sinclair died on March 16 after they were shot inside their practice. They both died before reaching the hospital, according to officials. Steven Alexander Smith is charged with capital murder in their deaths.
The affidavit reveals Smith, 40, was in a patient room with a nurse who was working to adjust his dentures. She told investigators that he was always difficult to work with, and on March 16, he was not happy with how she was working on his dentures. He began telling her what to do and to make the nurse uncomfortable and she asked for the dentist to come into the room to help her with him.
Because of his allegedly continued bad treatment of the clinic staff, Dr. Burroughs told Smith they would no longer see him as a patient. Smith then got angry, the affidavit says, and tried to grab his dentures from the nurse. He then pushed Dr. Burroughs to the ground and stormed out of the clinic.
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Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Burroughs went into the lobby and saw Smith enter his truck, the affidavit says. However, he didn’t stay in the truck, but came back toward the front door. Dr. Burroughs hurriedly tried to lock the door, but Smith forced it open with such force it knocked Dr. Burroughs to the ground.
Dr. Sinclair then jumped on Smith from behind to try to stop him. The men fought, and then Smith pulled a black pistol out, according to the affidavit, and shot five rounds into the two doctors.
Smith then pointed his gun at the nurse who had been in the room with him. He demanded that she open the door that leads back to the patient rooms, but she refused.
Smith then fled the dental office, got into his Toyota Tacoma, and drove home.
Tyler police were already waiting for Smith in his neighborhood, because someone at the clinic had thought to take a picture of his license plate. Police were able to take Smith into custody after a short time.
He remains in the Smith County Jail and is held on $3 million bond.
https://www.kltv.com/2022/03/22/accused-murderer-smith-county-dentists-known-difficult-patient/