UPDATE: Simone Biles‘ brother Tevin Biles-Thomas pleaded not guilty on Friday morning to murder among other charges in connection with a fatal New Year’s Eve shooting. The 24-year-old is being held on $1 million bond in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Jail, the Cuyahoga Criminal Court confirmed to E! News.
“We have a good, experienced judge on the case and it will be on her to make that decision on bond,” his attorney Joseph C. Patituce shared in a statement to E! News. “His family however was at the court to support him. Simone was not there. This case is not about her, it’s about Tevin’s innocence. We demanded the state give us whatever evidence they have last week & we will be discussing his innocence in future proceedings.”
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Simone Biles’ older brother has landed in jail.
Tevin Biles-Thomas, 24, has been arrested and charged with murder following a fatal shooting on New Year’s Eve. According to police, a fight broke out after a group of men showed up uninvited to an Airbnb in Cleveland, Ohio. Two men—DelVaunte Johnson, 19, and Toshon Banks, 21—were pronounced dead at the scene after suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Devaughn Gibson, 23, was transported to the hospital, where he too was pronounced dead.
The Olympian’s sibling was arrested on Thursday in Georgia, where he is on active duty in the Army. He has been charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury. Currently, Tevin is the only person to be charged in connection with the fatal shooting. He is being held without bail in the Liberty County, Georgia jail and is set to appear in court on September 13.
Following the arrest, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor O’Malley praised his team for their tireless work.
“The relentless persistence of Cleveland police homicide detectives helped secure an indictment in this case,” he said in a statement. “It is through their hard work that we can begin to seek justice for these victims.”
Tevin and Simone grew up together in Ohio and were adopted by their grandparents, who Simone refers to as mom and dad.
“My biological mom was suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and she was in and out of jail,” the gold medalist has shared. “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. There’s nothing I could say to them to thank them enough.”
In 2017, the athlete, 22, shared a series of snaps on Twitter of her posing alongside her big brother.
“My brother tevin,” she wrote. “Everyone says we look like twins but we don’t see it.”
(This story was originally published Friday, August 30, 2019 at 4:32 a.m. PST)
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