A 10-year-old Texas boy confessed to fatally shooting a man in his sleep two years ago, according to 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, about 60 miles east of San Antonio, the sheriff’s office said in a news release this week. An autopsy determined that Rasberry was shot once in the head, and the manner of death was homicide.
The Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office said it became aware of the child’s involvement in the shooting on April 12, when a principal at the Nixon Smiley Independent School District called to report the 10-year-old for allegedly threatening “to assault and kill another student on a bus” the day before.
“A Deputy was dispatched to the school to take a report and complete an investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release. “When the Deputy arrived he spoke with school officials who informed the Deputy the child made a statement that he shot and killed a man two years ago.”
The boy was taken to a child advocacy center where he was interviewed and provided firsthand knowledge of Rasberry’s murder. He told investigators that he was visiting his grandfather on Jan. 16, 2022 at the Lazy J RV Park when he took a 9 mm pistol from the glove compartment of his grandfather’s truck, entered Rasberry’s RV and shot him in the head while he was asleep, according to the sheriff’s office. He also said he discharged the pistol another time into the couch inside Rasberry’s RV before leaving.
“When asked, the child stated he had never met Brandon, and did not know who he was although he had observed him walking around the RV earlier in the day,” the sheriff’s office said. “The child was also asked if he was mad at Brandon for some reason or if Brandon had ever done anything to him to make him mad, the child stated no.”
Investigators found the weapon the child said he used to kill Rasberry at a pawn shop in Seguin, Texas. A forensic analysis of two spent shell casings from the scene of the crime determined that the weapon was used in Rasberry’s murder, the sheriff’s office said.
Murder charges will not be filed against the child because Texas law “states that a child does not have criminal culpability until they reach the age of ten years old,” according to the sheriff’s office. The child was seven years old at the time of the murder, just one week shy of his eighth birthday.
He was placed on a 72 hour emergency detention and taken to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment. The boy was then taken to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office and booked in on a terroristic threat charge for the school bus incident.
He is in custody in Gonzales County awaiting his court date. It’s not clear if the child has an attorney at this time.
NBC News has reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional information.
