Arlington, Texas, was rocked after a school shooting broke out at Timberview High School. The suspected shooter, 18-year-old Timothy Simpkins, used a firearm to injure 15-year-old Zacchaeus Selby, whom he shot four times. The shooter also injured 25-year-old teacher Calvin Pettitt during the altercation, shooting the man in the back. Despite the violence attributed to Simpkins, his family turned to GoFundMe to raise money to pay for emotional support services and therapy as he deals with the “very traumatic experience.”
However, GoFundMe took prompt action against the account, removing it as soon as it was discovered that the money would go to support the suspected school shooter. According to a Daily Mail exclusive report, friends and family of Simpkins launched the fundraising effort because the teenager was traumatized by his father’s recent death, which was unrelated to the shooting at the high school.
On Friday, a GoFundMe spokesperson told Daily Mail that they’d removed the account and refunded everyone who donated toward Simpkins’s counseling and therapy.
“The fundraiser was removed from the platform because it violated GoFundMe Terms of Service. Less than $150 was raised, and all donors have been refunded.”
Meanwhile, Selby (pictured below), one of the victims in the school shooting, continues to cling to life while he recovers in the hospital.
The shooting erupted after Selby (pictured above) and Simpkins began fighting in the classroom. After the shooting, Simpkins fled the scene. He later turned himself in to the police. He was released on his own recognizance on Thursday after a bail bondsperson put up some of his $75,000 bond.
Simpkins’s family claims that he was a victim of bullying. They said that the teen was relentlessly picked on by his peers because he owned nice possessions like expensive sneakers and a Dodge Charger. The GoFundMe page was created by the suspected shooter’s close family and friends in an effort to raise money to get the boy counseling and therapy, so he could better cope with the loss of his father. Dallas attorney Kim T. Cole was the person who officially opened the GoFundMe account.
(Victim Calvin Pettitt pictured above.)
The fundraising page included a statement from Simpkins’s mother, Katrina.
“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.”
His mom said that she was “not suggesting taking a gun to school was the right choice,” but she wants people to know that there is “so much more to the story.”
She added, “My son has gone through a very traumatic experience. He needs counseling and therapy.”