Texas school shooting suspect's family launches GoFundMe because he's 'traumatized'—fundraiser quickly removed from platform

GoFundMe management removed a crowdfunding page set up by the family of suspected Texas school shooter Timothy Simpkins. The fundraising campaign was launched on Oct. 7 and removed 24 hours later. The $150 the GoFundMe page managed to raise in that time was refunded to donors.

The incident was captured on Friday by the Daily Mail. A GoFundMe representative told the site: "The fundraiser was removed from the platform because it violated GoFundMe Terms of Service."

In terms of the motivation behind the crowdfunding effort in the first place points back to the alleged shooter's family's reaction as to why Simpkins may have shot a classmate and wounded a teacher. The family claimed he was acting in self-defense after being bullied for having a nice car and expensive shoes.

While the GoFundMe page itself was set up by attorney Kim T. Cole, it included a lengthy message said to be from the mother of Simpkins.

(Fort Worth Star-Telegram lists Cole as an official representative for the Simpkins family.)

The message read: "Many of you have seen the video of the brutal beating Timothy Simpkins received. He never even returned a blow. He simply balled up and covered his head trying to protect himself."

"What you don't know is that Timothy was robbed at gunpoint and stripped of his possessions a couple of weeks ago. And the unfortunate backstory is that Timothy's father was brutally beaten to death. This fact definitely heightened Timothy's fear for his life," the message continued.

"Not to mention that the young man responsible for beating and harassing him made had recently made threats to kill him so you see, my son was terrified and believed he would be murdered just like his father. I believe my son’s entire story should be heard and I am asking that you help me share it in an effort to balance the one-sided narrative that the media is broadcasting," it went on.

"Please know that I am not suggesting that taking a gun to school was the right choice to make, I am just saying that there is so much more to the story and all of the details should be known," the message concluded.

The mother rounds off by saying her son went through "a very traumatic experience" that requires therapy and counseling.

Keeping with the theme of family unity, it was reported yesterday that the Simpkins family threw a welcome home party for the school shooting suspect after he posted his $75,000 bail.

Meanwhile, the GoFundMe for medical expenses for Timberview shooting victim Zacchaeus Selby is halfway to its $10,000 goal.