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Christina Grimmie dead: The Voice singer's Twitter account hacked hours after she was shot dead

The post was later deleted by her team

Maya Oppenheim
Sunday 12 June 2016 16:09 BST
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Grimmie garnered a fan base of millions after uploading her performances to her YouTube channel at the age of 15
Grimmie garnered a fan base of millions after uploading her performances to her YouTube channel at the age of 15 (Getty Images)

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Christina Grimmie’s Twitter account was hacked just hours after the singer was shot dead in Florida.

The 22-year-old, who was a contestant on the US version of The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando, Florida on Friday (10 June) when an assailant opened fire on her and then shot and killed himself.

The singer was immediately taken to hospital in critical condition but died from injuries.

Hours after Grimmie was announced dead, a message saying “The End” was posted on her Twitter account. The post was later deleted by her team and a message was pinned to her account which said “RIP Christina”.

The new post includes a message from Brian Teefy, the stepfather of Selena Gomez, who discovered Grimmie on YouTube. Teefy expressed sadness at her tragic death on a GoFundMe page he created in order to help raise money for Grimmie's family.

“Words cannot begin to describe the pain I am feeling,” Teefy wrote. “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,” he added.

Grimmie’s last tweet posted before she was fatally shot urged her fans to come and watch her perform in Orlando.

Her killer, Kevin James Loibl, is from St Petersburg, Florida and travelled across the state to target Grimmie, according to Orlando Police. Loibl had been carrying two guns, two loaded magazines and a hunting knife on his person during the shooting.

Concert Attendee- 'I Still Hear the Gunshots'

Grimmie garnered a fan base of millions after uploading her performances to her YouTube channel at the age of 15. Following this, she appeared on The Voice's sixth season in 2014 and recently began performing with punk rock band Before You Exit. Tributes for the singer have flooded in from around the world since the news of her death first emerged.

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