Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine has offered to pay for the funeral of singer Christina Grimmie, who was murdered while meeting fans after a concert on Friday (June 10).
The singer’s brother, Marcus Grimmie, revealed in a Facebook post on Monday (June 13) that Levine personally contacted the siblings’ mother and said that he would pay for the funeral and also fund her travel expenses.
“I found out this morning that Adam Levine personally called my mother and said he will pay for the funeral and her plane flight, and I was blown away,” he wrote.
Levine had been the 22-year-old singer’s coach when she appeared on reality entertainment show “The Voice” in 2014.
He had earlier posted a picture of him and Grimmie on Twitter, and said that he was “absolutely devastated and heartbroken” by news of her death.
Grimmie had been signing autographs after a concert in Orlando, Florida, when she was shot in the head by a 27-year-old man who was later identified as Kevin James Loibl.
NBC News reported that Marcus had tackled the gunman after the shooting, but was unable to stop Loibl from shooting himself.
Grimmie was rushed to hospital, but later died of her injuries.
Marcus also wrote on Facebook that his sister’s manager, Mr Brian Teefey, had set up a page on crowdfunding site GoFundMe to help the family move out of their current house and take care of the funeral expenses.
On the page, where close to US$140,000 (S$189,650) had been raised in two days, Teefey wrote that Grimmie had been like a second daugher to him.
“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,” he added.
Meanwhile, some fans have also started a petition on change.org calling for a character in the next Legend of Zelda game, Grimmie’s favourite game, to be named after her. It has so far attracted more than 21,000 supporters.
AFP, Reuters, Instagram/Grimmie
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