Student in Timberview shooting charged; warrant details how witnesses say it happened

The 18-year-old student who shot multiple people inside a high school classroom in Arlington on Wednesday pulled a gun out of his backpack after a fight between him and another student was broken up, according to an arrest warrant released by Arlington police Thursday.

Timothy Simpkins was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he turned himself in following the shooting at Timberview High School in Mansfield ISD on Wednesday morning.

Simpkins was booked into the Arlington City Jail and his bond was set at $75,000. He was transferred to the Tarrant County Jail on Thursday morning, and was released on bail to his family Thursday afternoon.

Four people were injured in the shooting at the North Texas high school. A 15-year-old student who was fighting with Simpkins and a 25-year-old teacher who broke up the fight were shot, police wrote in the arrest warrant affidavit. The 15-year-old was in critical condition as of Thursday. The teacher, identified by students and in a court document as Calvin Pettitt, was in good condition. A teenage girl had abrasions from being grazed by a bullet and was treated and released from the hospital, the warrant said.

According to the warrant, Simpkins was inside a classroom on the second floor of the Mansfield district high school when the fight started during second period. The 15-year-old student came into the classroom and started to fight Simpkins, several students said during interviews Wednesday. A video of the fight circulating on social media shows Simpkins being hit repeatedly by the other student.

Pettitt and several other teachers and coaches jumped in to break up the fight. The 15-year-old student “ultimately gave up and stopped being combative,” the arrest warrant says. Simpkins walked to an orange backpack and grabbed a handgun, witnesses told police. Simpkins pointed the gun at the student he had been fighting with and shot him, the warrant says. Pettitt was shot, as well.

Another teacher, Pariesa Altman, was also injured during the shooting, but was not shot. Police said she fell and declined medical treatment.

After seeing Simpkins pull out the gun, one teacher ran out of the classroom and heard several shots go off, the warrant says. Another witness — a student — told police she saw Simpkins shoot seven to eight times. Students near the classroom told the Star-Telegram they heard three to six shots and screaming.

Simpkins ran out of the classroom and drove away from the school after the shots were fired about 9:15 a.m., police said. He turned himself in at about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday.

With the help of Mansfield ISD staff, the Mansfield ISD Police Department, the Mansfield Police Department and the Grand Prairie Police Department, Arlington police placed the school on lockdown and secured the building, police said.

Once security sweeps of the school were complete, all remaining students at Timberview High School were evacuated and bused to the Mansfield ISD Center for Performing Arts. Hundreds of parents lined up at the building to pick up their children. The first of the buses got to the center at about noon and the last of the parents left the center at about 5 p.m.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, police said.

“We would like to thank our employees, as well as our local, state, and federal partners that assisted with the initial response and that are continuing to assist with the investigation,” Arlington police said in a press release.

The Arlington Police Department will take the lead on the criminal case, the release said.

Students praise injured teachers

Anthony Vonkaitz, a senior at the school, said Pettitt, an English teacher, is “really cool, outgoing ... everyone loves him.” Vonkaitz wasn’t at school Wednesday but talked about how students could relate to the young teacher.

“He’s always positive in his class,” he said. “Always energetic. He cares a lot about his students.”

Pettitt’s sister Grace Rinearson wrote on Twitter that he was shot in the back and has broken ribs and a collapsed lung. “He’ll be in the hospital for a few days but he’s going to be fine,” she tweeted. “Thank you for all of the prayers.”

Corrie Napoles, who lives across the street from Pettitt and his family, said the young teacher comes from a family of educators who care deeply about their neighbors.

“They’re just a good family,” she said Tuesday morning.

Pettitt and his family have lived across the street from Napoles for six years.

A Mansfield school district spokesperson said Pettitt is in his third year of teaching at Timberview High School.

Altman is also an English teacher at Timberview. One student, Dylan Jones, 16, described her as his favorite teacher.

“She’s the best English teacher I’ve ever had in my life,” Jones said. “She actually connects with the students.”

Family says student was bullied

Simpkins’ family said on Wednesday he had been bullied and robbed at Timberview High School and brought a handgun to protect himself.

A woman acting as spokesperson for the family, Carol Harrison Lafayette, talked to reporters while standing with other relatives outside Simpkins’ home in Arlington on Wednesday evening.

Harrison Lafayette said Simpkins had been bullied and robbed twice at school.

“This is a situation where Timothy was being bullied,” Harrison Lafayette said. “It had been reported to the principals right along with the teachers. I’m not trying to justify the gun that was brought, but when you’re being bullied, when there’s bullies, throughout this nation you hear of young people ... committing suicide.”

Harrison Lafayette said the video shows Simpkins was being attacked. She said he was targeted by bullies for wearing nice clothes and driving a nice car and having things some other teenagers didn’t have.

Asked about the allegations of bullying, Mansfield ISD said in a statement Thursday that, “a thorough investigation into yesterday’s incident is still ongoing, so specific details cannot be addressed at this time. What we can say is that the safety and security of our students and staff — both physically and social-emotionally — has always been and will remain our number one priority. Every report that we receive of a potential bullying situation is thoroughly investigated and goes through the proper processes in order to assess and determine the appropriate consequence.”

More information about the district’s anti-bullying process is on its website.

On Wednesday, police searched the home where Simpkins lives with grandmother in the 600 block of Harris Ridge Drive. A SWAT team surrounded the house before Simpkins went to the Ott Cribbs Public Safety Center with an attorney and turned himself in without incident.

This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 12:43 PM.