Simone Biles Opens Up About Brother's Murder Charges: 'My Heart Aches for Everyone Involved'
Just days after her brother was charged in a violent triple murder, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles expressed her heartbreak over the news on social media.
Tevin Biles-Thomas was arrested Thursday at Fort Stewart in Georgia in connection with a triple murder.
Delvante Johnson, 19; Toshaun Banks, 21; and Devaughn Gibson, 23, were killed in a Cleveland Airbnb during a New Year’s Eve party in 2018.
According to the Cleveland Division of Police, a group of men arrived at the party uninvited; Biles-Thomas was among them.
A fight later ensued which was followed by gunshots, leaving Johnson, Banks and Gibson dead. Two other people were also injured.
Biles-Thomas is the only person charged in the incident. The 24-year-old active-duty soldier has been charged with three counts of voluntary manslaughter, five counts of felonious assault and one count of perjury.
Shortly after the news broke, the Olympic gymnast cryptically tweeted about eating her feelings. “Don’t talk to me,” she wrote.
eating my feelings don’t talk to me
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 30, 2019
Four days later, she addressed her brother’s arrest directly, noting that she was still struggling to process the reality of what had happened.
“My heart aches for everyone involved, especially for the victims and their families,” she wrote.
“There is nothing that I can say that will heal anyone’s pain, but I do want to express my sincere condolences to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy.”
She also asked for privacy as she and her family deal with their pain.
still having a hard time processing last weeks news pic.twitter.com/GU0nQt2PZY
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) September 3, 2019
Biles and her brother were both born in Colombus, Ohio, but were raised separately due to Biles’ mother’s drug and alcohol abuse.
The 22-year-old was raised in Houston, Texas, by her grandparents, to whom she later credited her professional success while on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
“My parents saved me, they’ve set huge examples of how to treat other people, and they’ve been there to support me since day one,” Biles said, according to Inside Edition. “There’s nothing I could say to them to thank them enough.”
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