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He’d escaped a difficult childhood, with a father beaten to death and mother behind bars, according to family members and court records.
Timothy Simpkins went to live with his grandmother in an Arlington neighborhood where he excelled in school, aspired to be an engineer and enjoyed driving his Dodge Charger around town, relatives and friends said.
But the skinny 18-year-old could not escape the daily scourge of high school bullying, harassment and attacks, which left him depressed and afraid, according to relatives.
He fought back on Wednesday by pulling a handgun from his backpack and firing at his alleged attacker in an Arlington high school classroom. In addition to striking the 15-year-old who had just pummeled him, the bullets hit another student and a teacher who intervened to break up the fight, police said.
Simpkins’ family wrote Thursday online that he’d been “threatened, beaten and harassed” since the beginning of the school year at Timberview High School in Arlington. The picture they painted was of a tortured young man pushed to a breaking point.
He was released on bond Thursday from the Tarrant County jail and returned to his Arlington home with family members, without commenting to reporters. He had turned himself in the day before on three charges of aggravated assault after police said he was wanted for the shooting Wednesday morning at Timberview.
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His bail was set at $75,000, according to jail records. Simpkins was placed on house arrest as a condition of his bond, according to court documents. He can’t possess a gun and must stay 1,000 feet away from Timberview. He was also ordered not to contact any of the people injured.
A Facebook statement attributed to his mother and grandmother — Katrina Roberson and Lillie Simpkins — said Timothy was a straight-A student who had attended private school until recently. It’s unclear what led to his return to public school.
“Timothy has always been a kind and thoughtful child who loves to learn,” the post says. “Because he spends so much time focusing on his studies, most of his relatives call him the ‘little nerd’ of the family.”
Carol Harrison Lafayette, a relative speaking for the family, said Wednesday that Simpkins is an outgoing, well-liked, loving person, who was excited to graduate from high school.
Asked what is next for Simpkins after he was released from the jail, his family’s civil attorney told the assembled media he needed to finish school.
“You’re aware there’s a difference between a mass shooting, a school shooting,” Kim T. Cole said. “These are people who are out to shoot multiple people and that’s not what happened.”
Simpkins’ criminal defense attorney could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Mansfield Independent School District officials have so far declined to address specific allegations of bullying. But the family said it was very real.
“Recently he was ambushed by a group of young males outside of school, stripped of his clothing in front of a crowd of onlookers, and robbed of his money and possessions,” the family’s Facebook post says.
The post said Simpkins had been “humiliated and stripped of his dignity” more than once, leaving him afraid to go to school or even to leave the house alone.
“All of these occurrences were brought to the attention” of school officials, “And absolutely nothing was done to protect my son. He became depressed and some days did not even want to get out of bed,” the post says. “I am certain that he was fearful for his safety and felt that he had no support from those in authority whose responsibility it was to protect him.”
While making sure to not excuse any use of a gun, the post adds that Simpkins’ own father was brutally murdered.
“And this fact definitely heightened Timothy’s fear for his life — not to mention that the young men responsible for beating and harassing him recently made threats to kill him,” the post says, “So you see, my son was terrified and believed he would be murdered just like his father.”
Details of the father’s death were not immediately available.
The school shooting occurred shortly after a fight broke out in a second-story classroom Wednesday morning, police said. A social media video circulating appears to show someone resembling Simpkins being punched repeatedly by another student, but police said they couldn’t verify its accuracy.
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Simpkins left the school after the shooting. Grand Prairie police recovered a .45-caliber handgun on England Parkway and federal authorities are trying to determine whether it was used in the shooting.
Police found Simpkins’ 2018 silver Dodge Charger at an apartment complex in Grand Prairie. Simpkins turned himself in to authorities at about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, and with an attorney, he spoke with detectives.
About 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, a SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home where he lives with his grandmother. The Edgefield neighborhood is a relatively new development with large homes sporting limestone and brick facades.
Simpkins’ social media accounts appear to have been active early Wednesday, but the accounts are no longer available. Photos that were posted to the now-inactive accounts purport to depict him in his car.
Next door neighbor Lorenzo Vasquez, 17, said on Thursday that Simpkins was quiet and kept to himself but loved taking his Charger out to practice drifting, a popular maneuver in which drivers make cars spin sideways by intentionally oversteering.
Vasquez said he thinks bullies saw his neighbor as an “easy target.”
Simpkins did not comment after being released from the jail on Thursday, nor did his relatives when they returned to his Arlington home.
Timothy and his sister, now 22, both lived with their grandmother Lillie Simpkins, 67, in 2012, according to a Tarrant County family court document. The parents were at the time separated, and the attorney general’s child support unit was attempting to determine the mother’s ability to pay child support.
Lillie’s husband, George Simpkins, died in 2018 at age 80, according to probate and property records and his obituary.