The family of a suspected school shooter started a fundraiser to help the teen, but got a rude awakening when the website hosting the drive shut it down.
The fundraiser for 18-year-old Timothy Simpkins, the Timberview High School student who is alleged to have shot a fellow student and a teacher in an assault that rocked Arlington, Texas, was started Thursday, according to the UK Daily Mail.
Dallas attorney Kim T. Cole and several of Simpkins’ friends and relatives were behind the GoFundMe drive.
The fundraiser ran as one of the victims, 15-year-old Zacchaeus Selby, was left in critical condition from multiple gunshot wounds. Selby was seemingly unarmed at the time of the shooting, which nearly killed a teacher.
A Friday update from Selby’s mother states the young teen has successfully completed his second surgery, but has a long recovery ahead of him.
“Many of you have seen the video of the brutal beating Timothy Simpkins received,” Simpkins’ mother Katrina reportedly wrote on the fundraiser. “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 continued. “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.”
The mother wrote Simpkins’ experience was “traumatic” (you should see the other guy), and the alleged shooter would require counseling and therapy.
Asking $25,000, the fundraiser was only able to raise about $150 of its target goal before being shut down by GoFundMe.
“The fundraiser was removed from the platform because it violated GoFundMe Terms of Service,” a spokesperson told the Daily Mail, adding that all donations had been refunded.
Despite the heinous nature of his alleged crime, Simpkins was let out on only $75,000 bail to a jubilant family.
But while his relatives celebrated his release and said he was “not no bad kid,” the move angered many across the nation.
Many compared the light treatment to that of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was forced to pay $2 million in bail to see freedom, despite apparently defending himself from multiple armed assailants during the violent Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots.
Simpkins faces three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Despite the charges, it appears at least one of his alleged victims will live with the consequences of the shooting for the rest of his life.
Thankfully, while Simpkin’s fundraiser was shut down, Selby’s is still going strong.
The fundraiser for Selby has brought in more than $5,000, which puts it over halfway to its $10,000 goal. His GoFundMe aims to help pay medical and legal expenses, and can be found here.