The jury in the attempted capital murder trial of Timothy Simpkins, who shot two students and a teacher inside his Tarrant County high school, on Monday evening sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
After the jury last week found Simpkins guilty in the 2021 shooting at Mansfield Timberview High School in Arlington, he faced a prison term of between five to 99 years or life in the trial’s punishment phase.
Simpkins, who decided not to testify in the guilt-innocence phase, took the witness stand Monday and began with an apology. He referred by name to Pariesa Altman, who was teaching in the classroom in which Simpkins opened fire; Shaniya McNeely, a student who was grazed; and Calvin Pettitt, a teacher who was shot. Pettitt watched from the front row of the courtroom gallery as the defendant testified.
