Timothy Simpkins, 18, was arrested on Thursday for violating the terms of his $25,000 bond by using an ‘illicit substance’
A Texas teenager who was released on bond the day after he was arrested for shooting three people at his high school has found himself back behind bars.
Timothy Simpkins, 18, was arrested on Thursday after a court-ordered urinalysis returned a positive result for an ‘illicit substance,’ according to FOX News.
It did not specify what type of ‘illicit substance’ Simpkins allegedly used, but under the terms of his $25,000 bond he was prohibited from using drugs and alcohol.
The arrest came just 10 days after Simpkins sought to modify the term of his bond to allow him to go to church on Sundays, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. A judge has not yet ruled on the request.
Simpkins was originally arrested back in October on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a shooting at Mansfield Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas that left a student critically injured.
He was released the next day on bond, and was seen later that afternoon celebrating with his family.
This video, taken moments before the shooting, shows Timothy Simpkins, the shooter, being beaten up in his classroom by a 15-year-old student, Zaccaeus Selby. After teachers broke up the fight, Timothy went to his backpack and retrieved his gun. He shot the other boy ‘seven to eight times’, according to the police report. He also shot a teacher in the back and grazed a teenager girl with another bullet before going on the run
Simpkins is shown in his Dodge Charger in a social media post. In the side of the car, what looks like a gun is visible
Simpkins – who is 5ft 9in and weighs 135lbs – opened fire in his classroom at Timberview High School on October 6, shortly after 9am, after a fight with a fellow student Zaccaeus Selby.
A video of their fight was posted on social media by Simpkins’ cousin on Wednesday night in an effort to prove that he was being bullied.
It shows Simpkins – who was identified by police as wearing a light colored hoodie in the footage – being pummeled by Selby, who is three years his junior, while holding his hands around his head.
While teachers and coaches tried to restrain Simpkins went to his orange backpack, pulled out of a .45 caliber handgun and started shot Selby, who was critically injured.
He also hit a teacher, Calvin Pettit, 25, who tried to break up the fight, and a teenage girl who suffered a graze wound.
A pregnant teacher was also injured when she tripped over in the ensuing chaos.
A police report from the incident says a witness observed Simpkins shoot ‘from her account, seven to eight times.
‘The witness then observed the juvenile victim fall to the ground,’ the police report read.
Simpkins fled in a Silver Dodge Charger before later turning himself into authorities.
He was placed on $75,000 bond, part of which was paid for by a bondsman, allowing Simpkins to return home under house arrest.
Under the conditions of his house arrest, Simpkins was prohibited from using a gun and was required to stay 1,000 feet from the school.
Selby, meanwhile, was released from the hospital on October 20 after having undergone several surgeries, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Fifteen-year-old student Zaccaeus Selby, left, and teacher Calvin Pettit, 25, right, were injured in the shooting on October 6
The school was evacuated after the shots rang out on October 6
READ RELATED: A Lower-Body Yoga Routine to Help Build Strength and Balance
A law enforcement officer walks in the parking lot of Timberview Hight School after a shooting inside the school
Simpkins’ family spoke out to defend him after his arrest, claiming he is a ‘loveable’ boy who snapped after being ‘bullied’.
They say the other kids picked on him because he has a ‘nice car’ – a $35,000 Dodge Challenger – and wears nice clothes, like a pair of $160 Off-White x Nike sneakers he is pictured in on social media.
Simpkins lives in a $400,000 home with his grandmother Lillie. He drives a 2018 Silver Dodge Charger, and his family described him as a ‘loveable’ kid. It’s unclear what his parents do for work or how involved they are in his life.
‘He was robbed. It was recorded. It happened not just once, it happened twice. He was scared, he was afraid,’ Carol Harrison Lafayette, a relative, told reporters outside the family’s home.
‘It could have been a decision that he could have committed suicide… he was trying to protect himself. They were blessed financially.
‘He was able to get things that other teenagers cannot have, because he wore nice clothes, because he drove nice cars, he was like a target.
‘There is no justification of anybody … being hurt. We have to take a look at the fact that bullying is real. And it takes us all.
‘And I do apologize. We ask as a family for forgiveness of any type of hurt,’ she went on.
Cint Wheat, his cousin, wrote in a Facebook post: ‘At the end of the day my lil cousin was bullied. I don’t know to feel about this he not no bad kid.
She later claimed in the comments section of her post that her aunt went to the school to report the bullying but that nothing was done.
‘Right now they about to come up with what shoulda coulda been done when all the signs was ignored and the cries for help,’ she said.
A GoFundMe page was set up in the aftermath by his attorney, Kim T. Cole. It had a goal of $25,000 and included a statement from Timothy Simpkins’ mother
Timothy George Simpkins walked out of Tarrant County Correctional Center after a bondsman paid some of his $75,000 bond
A GoFundMe was also set up in the aftermath by Dallas-based attorney Kim T. Cole, asking the public to give $25,000 to help Simpkins.
It included a lengthy statement from his mother, Katrina, which reads: ‘Many of you have seen the video of the brutal beating Timothy Simpkins received. He never even returned a blow. He simply balled up and covered his head trying to protect himself.
‘What you don’t know is that Timothy was robbed at gunpoint and stripped of his possessions a couple of weeks ago,’ she wrote. ‘And the unfortunate backstory is that Timothy’s father was brutally beaten to death. This fact definitely heightened Timothy’s fear for his life.
‘Not to mention that the young man responsible for beating and harassing him made had recently made threats to kill him so you see, my son was terrified and believed he would be murdered just like his father.
She said that while she is ‘not suggesting taking a gun to school was the right choice’, there is ‘so much more to the story.
‘My son has gone through a very traumatic experience. He needs counseling and therapy.
‘Please donate what you can to help,’ she added.
The page attracted $150 in donations before GoFundMe shut it down for a violation of its polices.
Source:
