Texas School Shooter Who Claimed Self Defense Gets Re-Arrested For Violating Bond

Arlington, TX – The Texas school shooter who opened fire on classmates at Timberview High School in October after losing a classroom fight was re-arrested just before Christmas for violating the terms of his bond.

Court records showed that 18-year-old Timothy Simpkins was taken into custody on Dec. 23 after he failed a court-ordered drug/alcohol urine test, KDFW reported.

Simpkins was released to home confinement with a GPS monitor on a $75,000 bond on Oct. 7, one day after he shot multiple people inside his Arlington high school.

But after his court-ordered urinalysis turned up positive for an “illicit substance,” the judge ordered the teen to spend the holidays behind bars, FOX News reported.

Authorities have not detailed which prohibited substance appeared in Simpkins lab work.

Ten days before he was arrested, attorneys for Simpkins had asked the judge to let their client leave his home in order to attend church on Sundays, the Daily Mail reported.

The judge had not yet ruled on that special request.

Simpkins is facing three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the school shooting, the Daily Mail reported.

Police said Simpkins opened fire in a second floor classroom shortly after 9 a.m. on Oct. 6 following a physical altercation with another student.

A video of the fight that police said precipitated the shooting was posted to social media by another student shortly after the incident and showed Simpkins was clearly being violently beaten by a bigger classmate while a teacher screamed for help in the background.

The arrest warrant for Simpkins said a witness told police that she heard a teacher yelling for help and went to assist her, WFAA reported.

The witness told detectives she entered the classroom and Simpkins and another boy fighting, according to the arrest affidavit.

She told police that she broke up the fight and was able to subdue the other student involved in the fight, WFAA reported.

Police said that 25-year-old Calvin Pettitt, a Timberview English teacher, also jumped in to help break up the fight and was shot multiple times, the New York Post reported.

“When the witness turns around to check on Simpkins, Simpkins had produced a firearm,” the affidavit read. “Upon seeing the firearm, this witness turned to run out of the classroom. The witness then heard three to four gunshots.”

The 15-year-old student seen fighting with Simpkins in the video – later identified as Zacchaeus Selby – was shot four times and had to have multiple surgeries prior to his release from the hospital.

Selby’s family said the boy was shot in the arm, leg, chest, and stomach, and spent an extended time in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on a ventilator in a drug-induced coma while surgeons tried to fix the damage cause by Simpkins’ bullets.

Police said Pettitt was shot in the back and suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung, the New York Post reported.

A teen girl was treated at the hospital for a graze wound and a pregnant teacher who fell and injured herself during the evacuation was treated at the scene, according to police.

Simpkins fled the school after the shooting and a massive manhunt was launched.

The teen turned himself in later the same day at an Arlington police station, KTVT reported.

Shortly after Simpkins turned himself in, his family faced reporters in front of their home and explained that the 18 year old was carrying a gun for self-defense because he had a history of being bullied at Timberview High School.

Carol Harrison Lafayette, acting as spokeswoman for the family, said Simpkins had also been robbed twice at the high school, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Attorneys for the 18 year old demanded that reporters change the narrative of the incident.

Attorney Kim T. Cole, speaking for Simpkins’ parents, blasted reporters outside the jail the next morning for having reported the incident as a “standard-issue school shooting,” the New York Post reported.

“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 added.