pothead <
pothe...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:t2d7kd$3hntd$
2...@news.freedyn.de:
> Niggers have no business bringing guns into a school.
A Texas teenager has been found guilty of attempted capital murder for
shooting three people including two classmates at his high school nearly
two years ago.
Timothy Simpkins, 19, shot three people - fellow students Zacchaeus Selby,
then 15, and Shaniya McNeely, as well as a teacher, Calvin Pettit - inside
Timberview High School back on October 6, 2021. The sentencing phase of
the trial will begin Friday.
In Texas, attempted murder carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison,
as Simpkins is being charged as an adult.
Tarrant County Prosecutor called Simpkins 'a cold-blooded killer' during
closing arguments Wednesday.
Defense attorney Lesa Pamplin argued that Selby was the real threat,
having attempted to beat up Simpkins.
'The terror was outside the classroom. The terror was not inside the
classroom. The terror was Zach pacing up and down the hall trying to find
somebody to film him brutally beat Tim. That was the threat! The threat
was outside. If the threat wasn't let in, we wouldn't be here,' Pamplin
said, according to Fox 4..
Simpkins was originally arrested 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.
Simpkins - who is 5ft 9in and weighs 135lbs - opened fire in his classroom
at Timberview High School on October 6, 2021 shortly after 9am, after a
fight with a fellow student 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, then 25, who tried to break up the
fight, and McNeely, 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.
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 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.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12321971/Jury-finds-Texas-teen-
Timothy-Simpkins-19-GUILTY-attempted-murder-two-years-shot-15-year-old-
classmate-SEVEN-TIMES-injured-teacher-brawl-school.html