ARLINGTON, Texas — The teenager accused in the shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington has been indicted on seven total charges, according to a press release from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
A Tarrant County Grand Jury Friday returned indictments Friday in the October 2021 shooting at Timberview High School that left four people injured. The shooting happened after a fight in one of the schools' classrooms.
Timothy George Simpkins, 18, was indicted on three charges of attempted murder, three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon in a prohibited place.
After his arrest in October, Simpkins was released from custody on bail.
However, police arrested Simpkins again in December, this time for an alleged bond violation.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the violation was over a urinalysis result, which indicated he used a substance prohibited by his bond conditions.
The bond conditions banned Simpkins from using illegal drugs and alcohol.
Jail records showed Simpkins was in custody at the Tarrant County Jail for about five days before being re-released.
Later in the day when the shooting happened in October, Simpkins' family said bullying played a part in his turning to violence.
A video that shows a fight between Simpkins and a 15-year-old shooting victim, Zacchaeus Selby, is part of the police investigation.
As Simpkins was processed out of the Tarrant County Corrections Center in downtown Fort Worth, his family defense attorney Kim Cole said the school shooting wasn't random.
Said Cole: "This is not someone who was just out to go and shoot up the school and had made up their mind -- 'Hey, I am upset, and I am going to shoot anyone I see.' That was not the situation here."
Later that month, however, Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said investigators had found no evidence the suspect was bullied, and instead found that Simpkins was involved in some high-risk activity.
“We can’t and we won’t say that there was any evidence of bullying that day or any other day,” Chief Jones said during a town hall meeting in October. “I also want to say with certainty that Mr. Simpkins is involved in high-risk activity, and that high-risk activity led to the disagreement within the community.”
That then led to Cole sending a message to the police chief, telling him that she wants him to stand down on his department's preliminary conclusion about what led to the shooting.
"With all due respect, I am not a member of law enforcement, but the role of law enforcement is not to steer an investigation to fit a particular narrative," Cole said.