The Texas student who allegedly opened fire at his high school, injuring four people, including a teacher, was sprung from jail on Thursday afternoon — as an attorney who joined him insisted that the case wasn’t a “standard-issue school shooting.”
Timothy George Simpkins, 18, who attends Timberview High School in Arlington, will report to home confinement after he posted $75,000 bond at Tarrant County Jail, news station WFAA reported.
Simpkins, who was wearing a blue baseball cap and graphic T-shirt, didn’t answer questions from reporters as he was escorted from the jailhouse by two relatives into the back seat of a white Mercedes sedan.
As part of the conditions of his release, he will also have to submit to drug and alcohol testing and wear a GPS monitoring device.
Civil rights attorney Kim T. Cole, who spoke on behalf of the family, blasted reporters outside the jail for portraying the dangerous incident as a “standard-issue school shooting.”
“There are numerous school shootings that have occurred across this country which are tragic. All school shootings are tragic,” Cole said. “However, in this situation, this was not someone who was just out to go and shoot a school and had made up their mind [and said,] ‘You know hey I’m upset and I’m just going to shoot anyone I see.'”
“That was not the situation here. So I request the media correct their narrative with regard to what happened, and that you all respect the family’s privacy,” she continued.
A family spokeswoman has claimed that he acted out of self-defense after being robbed and targeted by bullies.
Footage on social media allegedly showed Simpkins getting into an altercation during class with another student that escalated to gunfire Wednesday.
The fight was broken up and the two students calmed down, but then Simpkins pulled out a firearm from his orange backpack and fired several shots that struck three people, according to an arrest warrant Thursday.
Calvin Pettitt, a 25-year-old English teacher who jumped in to break up the fight, was shot in the back, suffering broken ribs and a collapsed lung, according to police and his family.
The other victims were identified as Zacchaeus Selby, Eyimofe Olawepo and Pariesa Altma, according to a bond document obtained by Dallas News.
Police have said a 15-year-old boy was in critical condition, while a teenage girl who was grazed by a bullet had been discharged from the hospital.
The fourth victim, a pregnant woman, was injured in a fall during the shooting, but received medical care on the scene, police said.
Simpkins was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
