A kind gesture. Adam Levine has offered to pay for Christina Grimmie’s funeral, her brother Marcus wrote on Facebook on Sunday, June 12.
The Maroon 5 frontman, 37, coached Grimmie on the sixth season of The Voice in 2014, and helped her land third place. On Friday, June 10, the 22-year-old YouTube sensation was shot and killed following her show in Orlando.
“I found out this morning that Adam Levine personally called my mother and said he will pay for her funeral and her plane flight, and I was blown away,” Marcus shared in the post.
Behati and I are absolutely devastated and heartbroken by Christina Grimmie’s death. Our hearts go out to her family pic.twitter.com/y4OMkm0uXu
— Adam Levine (@adamlevine) June 11, 2016
Levine mourned the late singer by sharing a sweet selfie on social media. “Behati [Prinsloo] and I are absolutely devastated and heartbroken by Christina Grimmie’s tragic death,” he told Us Weekly in a statement. “Our hearts go out to her family. Christina was a natural, a gifted talent that comes along so rarely. She was taken from us too soon. This is yet another senseless act of extreme violence. I am left stunned and confused how these things can conceivably continue to happen in our world.”
In addition to Levine’s generous donation, Marcus also announced that Christina’s manager (and Selena Gomez’s stepfather) Brian Teefey set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses. The website raised more than $100,000 less than 72 hours after her passing.
“Words cannot express,” Marcus wrote of the outpouring of support for his family. “Literally I have no words. I promise both my parents and I will read every one of these personalized messages. I’m so blown away by everything right now. But all I can say is thank you. And Christina will be missed and never ever forgotten.”
As Us Weekly previously reported, Christina was shot several times by 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl while she was signing autographs after her performance at the Plaza Live theater. Marcus quickly tackled him to prevent him from hurting anyone else, and the gunman, who was armed with two handguns, ammunition and a large hunting knife, shot and killed himself.
Christina was taken to the hospital, where she passed away several hours later. Orlando police say Christina did not know the man, who they are calling a “deranged fan.”
