Student taken into custody hours after Texas school shooting
By JAMIE STENGLE and JILL BLEED
Associated Press
Posted:
Updated:
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This undated photo provided by the Arlington Police Department in Arlington, Texas shows Timothy George Simpkins. Police are searching for Simpkins, who is the suspected shooter at a Dallas-area high school, leaving four people injured before fleeing, authorities said Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
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In this image from WFAA-TV video, law enforcement arrives at Timberview High School on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. Authorities say a student opened fire inside the Dallas-area high school during a fight.
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In this image from WFAA-TV video, students evacuate Timberview High School on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. Authorities say a student opened fire inside the Dallas-area high school during a fight.
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A law enforcement officer walks in the parking lot of Timberview High School after a shooting inside the school in south Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
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People gather on a road leading to Timberview High School after a shooting at the school in south Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
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Law enforcement officers from different agencies gather in the parking lot of Timberview High School after a shooting inside the school located in south Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
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Law enforcement officers walk in the parking lot of Timberview High School after a shooting inside the school located in south Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
Authorities say a student opened fire inside a Dallas-area high school during a fight, injuring four people before he fled
Tony Gutierrez
Families stand outside the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts waiting to be reunited with their children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at the Timberview High School in Arlington.
Tony Gutierrez
Stephanie Wade, left, comforts her daughter Keeley after she became emotional describing the environment during a school shooting at the Timberview High School in Arlington to the media, after the pair were reunited, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas.
Tony Gutierrez
Families arrive at Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts to be reunited with their children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at the Timberview High School in Arlington.
Tony Gutierrez
Stephanie Wade, left, comforts her daughter Keeley after she became emotional describing the environment during a school shooting at the Timberview High School in Arlington to the media, after the pair were reunited, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas.
Tony Gutierrez
A Burleson, Texas, SWAT officer directs traffic to a parking area for families arriving to be reunited with their school children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington.
Tony Gutierrez
A Burleson, Texas, SWAT officer directs traffic to a parking area for families arriving to be reunited with their school children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington.
Tony Gutierrez
A Mansfield ISD school bus leaves the Center For The Performing Arts in Mansfield, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, after dropping off school children from Timberview High School following a school shooting at Timberview.
Tony Gutierrez
Lines of vehicular traffic are directed by authorities to a parking area for families to be reunited with their school children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington.
4 people were injured after police say a teenager opened fire at a Dallas-area high school Wednesday. The suspect later surrendered to police.
Tony Gutierrez
Timberview High School students Kayla Glaze, left, Hanyla Milligan, center and her brother Hamin Milligan right, respond a reporters questions outside the Mansfield ISD Center For The Performing Arts, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas. Authorities say a student opened fire inside a Dallas-area high school during a fight, injuring four people before he fled.
Tony Gutierrez
Laura Alabodi, right, responds to questions after picking up her sophomore daughter, left, who did not wish to be identified, from the Mansfield ISD Center For The Performing Arts where they were reunited, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas. Police in Texas have arrested a student suspected of opening fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school, leaving four people injured.
Tony Gutierrez
A woman holds the hand of a teenager as they depart the Mansfield ISD Center For The Performing Arts where families were reunited with Timberview High School Students, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas. Police in Texas have arrested a student suspected of opening fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school, leaving four people injured.
Tony Gutierrez
Families depart the Mansfield ISD Center For The Performing Arts Center where families were reunited with Timberview High School Students, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas. Police in Texas have arrested a student suspected of opening fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school, leaving four people injured.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — An 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school on Wednesday, injuring four people and then fleeing before being taken into custody hours later, authorities said.
Timothy George Simpkins was taken into custody without incident, the Arlington Police Department tweeted. He was booked in the Arlington jail on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was being held on $75,000 bail.
One person was in critical condition, another was in good condition and a third person was treated for minor abrasions and was scheduled to be released from the hospital later Wednesday, police said. A fourth person was hurt but did not require treatment at a hospital. Police said earlier that three of the four injured were students.
The shooting at Timberview High School, which is in Arlington but belongs to the school district in neighboring Mansfield, stemmed from a fight that broke out in a classroom, Arlington Assistant Police Chief Kevin Kolbye said at news conference before Simpkins’ arrest.
“This is not a random act of violence,” he said. “This is not somebody attacking our school.”
A spokeswoman for Simpkins’ family said he had been bullied and robbed twice at school.
“The decision he made, taking the gun, we’re not justifying that,” said family spokeswoman Carol Harrison Lafayette, who spoke to reporters outside the Simpkins’ home while standing with other relatives. “That was not right. But he was trying to protect himself.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating how the suspect got a gun. Local police from other nearby jurisdictions, including the cities of Mansfield and Grand Prairie, assisted Wednesday.
Student Hanyla Milligan said she first got word of the shooting when she heard a commotion.
“Someone outside of my classroom said, ‘He just shot him,” the 16-year-old Milligan said, and then she heard people running. “People were scared. They was crying. They was shaking.”
After news of the shooting spread, hundreds of parents gathered at the Mansfield Independent School District Center for the Performing Arts about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the high school to be reunified with their kids, who were bused over. Among them was Justin Rockhold, whose ninth-grade son had texted to let him know he was OK.
Rockhold said he has served in the military and he drew on that experience to instruct his son, telling him to keep his head down and be still to stay safe. When asked whether he had thought a shooting could happen at the school, he said his military training is also a reminder of life’s dangerous realities.
“Obviously in America — in the world we live in today — it’s always something. … It’s in the back of your mind,” Rockhold said, adding that he was praying for the injured. “I’m just blessed today that my kid’s safe.”
Timberview serves about 1,900 students in the ninth through 12th grades. The sprawling complex opened in 2004.
Arlington, with a population of about 400,000, is a major suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The city is home to attractions including the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park and the stadiums where the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and MLB’s Texas Rangers play. Authorities closed a section of a tollway in Arlington near Timberview as dozens of school buses picked up students to reunite them with their parents. Some waited for hours to collect their children as traffic in the area crawled.
The shooting Wednesday happened just days after a shooting at a Houston charter school that injured an administrator. Texas’ deadliest school shooting occurred in May 2018 when a 17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at Santa Fe High School near Houston, killing 10 people, most of whom were students.
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An earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect that the suspect’s last name is Simpkins, not Simpkin.
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Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Acacia Coronado in Austin contributed to this report. Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
