From your link
"His sister, Kayla Blackmon, at one point said the family was there to apologize for Simmons’ behavior. They blame the action that claimed his life on a battle with drugs and depression. Blackmon said the brother she knew and loved would have never done anything like this had it not been for his struggles with drugs and depression.
“He’s not a bad person. The things that overpowered him that overtook him is what lead him to do this,” she said.
“He was working so hard to get on the right track. He was so close. His wife told me he just broke down and prayed not a day or two before this happened. He was in treatment. Monday September 12, he was going to in patient treatment,”
He was killed the night before.
“I know that my brother was wrong for what he did, and I will never try to defend that ever because we are not those type of people. We are against that. We are against violence, we are against drug and I need everybody to be against it as well. We need to come together at a time like this. This is an eye opener," said Blackmon."