A 10-year-old boy in Texas has confessed to fatally shooting a man two years ago who was sleeping in his RV, the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The sheriff’s office shared in a news release that 32-year-old Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry was found dead at the Lazy J RV Park on Jan. 18, 2022, in Nixon, Texas.
An autopsy at the time had determined Rasberry was shot once in the head. His manner of death was determined to be a homicide, but investigations had not produced any potential suspects until recently.
On April 12, the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office said it was made aware of the child’s involvement in the shooting.
According to the sheriff’s office, 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.”
“A Deputy was dispatched to the school to take a report and complete an investigation,” 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 then taken to a child advocacy center, where he was interviewed, during which he provided firsthand knowledge of Rasberry’s murder.
It was then that he told investigators he had been 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, the release said.
The 10-year-old boy then entered Rasberry’s RV and discharged the pistol, striking him in the head while he slept, the sheriff’s office reported. He said he then shot the gun again 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.”
The sheriff’s office was able to find the weapon the child used and confirm it had been used in Rasberry’s murder.
Despite his confession, the boy will not be charged with murder, as Texas law states that “a child does not have criminal culpability until they reach the age of ten years old,” the sheriff’s office said.
The boy was 7 at the time of the murder, a week away from his eighth birthday.
Authorities have since placed the boy on a 72-hour emergency detention and taken him to a hospital in San Antonio for a psychiatric evaluation.
He has been booked on a terroristic threat charge for the school bus incident and is awaiting a court date.