Christina Grimmie Update: Selena Gomez’s Stepfather Sets Up GoFundMe Account To Raise Money For Grimmie’s Family

Christina Grimmie, a 22-year-old singer from Marlton, New Jersey, tragically passed away this morning in Orlando, Florida, after being shot following a concert last night. Grimmie was in the process of signing autographs when 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl approached her and fired multiple shots, according to USA Today. Grimmie’s brother, Mark, was able to tackle the shooter, but it was unfortunately too late as the injuries to Christina turned out to be fatal. Fortunately, Loibl was not able to harm anyone else, and he ended up committing suicide shortly after shooting Grimmie.

According to People, Grimmie was close friends with Selena Gomez and often went on tour with her where she sang backup vocals. In addition to their close friendship, Gomez’s stepfather, Brian Teefey, was also Grimmie’s manager. He spoke to People today about his relationship with Grimmie.

“Words cannot begin to describe the pain I am feeling. I learned this business through the eyes of a father and Christina was like a second daughter to me. All I wanted to do was assist her in achieving her musical dreams while protecting her from the pitfalls associated with the business. I never could have imagined this horrific event being one of the pitfalls needing to be avoided. As family, Mother, Father, and Brother made the ultimate family sacrifice to support Christina on her musical journey. They did nothing but love her and support her as family the best they knew how, the only worry I want them to have at this point is that of recovery.”

Unfortunately, this particular pitfall may have been unavoidable for Grimmie. While details are still coming out regarding why Loibl decided to target her, it is being reported that he traveled to Orlando specifically for Grimmie. The investigation is still ongoing, and it could become much more clear what Loibl’s motive was as the days go by.

In order to help Grimmie’s family, Teefey has already created a GoFundMe page to help pay for Christina’s final expenses. At the time of publishing this article, 1,119 people have already donated a total of $28,066 in only 15 hours. This is significantly more money than the $4,000 goal that the page was started with. In addition to the strong support from Grimmie’s parents, Mark also dedicated a significant amount of time in assisting his sister with her hectic career. According to Heavy, Mark actually worked as his sister’s tour manager, so the funds should help him get back on his feet too.

In addition to Teefey’s kind words, numerous celebrities and musicians have already paid their tributes to Grimmie on social media. The most notable may be Adam Levine, who was Grimmie’s coach on The Voice in 2014.

Levine originally wanted Grimmie to sign with his label, but she ultimately opted for Island Records. Regardless of her career path after The Voice, Levine and Grimmie apparently remained close, and he is clearly distraught by the devastating news.

In addition to Levine, Blake Shelton, who actually wanted to be Grimmie’s coach before she opted for Levine, also paid tribute to the late singer on Twitter earlier today.

I'm stunned and disgusted and heartbroken that we lost that sweet little girl… Keeping @TheRealGrimmie family in my heart and mind.

— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) June 11, 2016

At only 22-years-old, Christina Grimmie’s life ended way too early. In her short time, though, she was able to inspire millions of people with her music. Her Facebook fan account has over 3.1 million likes by itself. Her YouTube page has over 3.2 million subscribers and 378 million views. While Grimmie initially garnered attention because of her covers, she also put out numerous original songs.

More updates regarding Christina Grimmie’s life and her shooter will come over the next few weeks. As seen in a video posted by Christina yesterday, before her final concert, she was her usual upbeat and positive self.

[Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for iHeartMedia]