Four people were injured in the shooting Wednesday morning.
The student accused of shooting his teacher in the back and wounding three others at a Texas high school walked free Thursday, just one day after cops say he opened fire Wednesday morning.
Timothy Simpkins, 18, was released on $75,000 bail and ignored all questions as he left jail.
Meanwhile, his family is coming to his defense, saying that Simpkins was bullied and robbed at school and carried a handgun to protect himself because of a lavish lifestyle he lived, including owning a $35,000 car, the New York Post reported.
“He was robbed. It was recorded. It happened not just once, it happened twice. He was scared, he was afraid,” a family spokesperson said at a press conference Thursday. “He was able to get things maybe that other children could not get or teenagers could not have. So, because he wore nice clothes and because he drove nice cars and because he had the things, he was like a target.”
The family said the bullying was so bad, they feared he would die by suicide, the New York Post reported.
Cops believe a fistfight between the suspect and another student sparked the shooting.
The family apologized for Simpkins' actions, with the spokesperson saying, “we ask as a family for forgiveness for any type of hurt.”
The suspect was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after turning himself in Wednesday afternoon following the shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington.
