A 10-year-old boy from Texas confessed to fatally shooting a man in his sleep two years ago, as reported by the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office. Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was found dead at the Lazy J RV Park on Jan. 18, 2022, in his RV in Nixon, Texas. An autopsy confirmed that Rasberry was shot once in the head, and the death was ruled a homicide. The sheriff’s office became aware of the child’s involvement in the shooting on April 12 when a principal at the Nixon Smiley Independent School District reported the child for allegedly threatening to harm another student on a school bus.
The boy was brought to a child advocacy center for an interview, where he provided firsthand knowledge of Rasberry’s murder. He recounted taking a 9mm pistol from his grandfather’s truck on Jan. 16, 2022, while visiting the Lazy J RV Park and entering Rasberry’s RV, where he shot him in the head while he was asleep. The child also admitted to discharging the pistol another time into the couch inside the RV before leaving the scene. Despite not knowing Rasberry personally, the boy stated that he was not angry at him and did not have any reason to harm him.
Investigators were able to locate the weapon used in Rasberry’s murder at a pawn shop in Seguin, Texas. Forensic analysis of two spent shell casings from the crime scene confirmed that the pistol was indeed used in the murder. However, due to Texas law stating that a child does not have criminal culpability until the age of ten, murder charges will not be filed against the child. At the time of the murder, the boy was seven years old, just one week shy of his eighth birthday. Following the confession, the child was placed on a 72-hour emergency detention and transferred to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment.
After receiving medical and psychiatric care, the child was brought to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office, where he was booked on a terroristic threat charge related to the school bus incident that initially brought attention to him. He is now in custody in Gonzales County, awaiting his court date. It remains unclear if the child has legal representation at this time. NBC News has reached out to the sheriff’s office for further information on the case. The tragic incident sheds light on the complexities of juvenile criminal responsibility and the challenges of addressing such cases within the legal system, particularly when involving very young children.
