10-Year-Old Texas Boy Details How He Murdered A Stranger When He Was 7
The Texas boy who admitted to the killing of a man in an RV has detailed how the murder took place -- two years after it happened.
In a press release from the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office last Thursday, they gave an update on the homicide case of 32-year-old Brandon O'Quinn Rasberry, who was found dead with a gunshot in his head inside his RV parked at 85 Wild Meadow in Nixon, Texas, in January 2022.
The case went cold because there weren't enough leads at the time. Not until recently when the sheriff's office got a call.
On April 14, they received a call from an independent school reporting a 10-year-old male student who had reportedly threatened to assault and kill another student on a bus the night before. The school also called to forward the statement the boy made.
During the school district's assessment of the student, he stated that "he shot and killed a man two years ago." With his statement, the deputies thought of the possibility that he might be connected to Rasberry's murder.
The 10-year-old boy was then transported to a child advocacy center, where he was questioned. During the forensic interview, the child reportedly described in detail how he shot and killed a man in a trailer in Nixon, Texas.
According to the boy, who was 7 years old (a week shy of his 8th birthday) at the time of the murder, he was visiting his grandfather, who lived in the same RV park as Rasberry, in January 2022. He stated that he got a "dirt and army-green" colored 9mm pistol from the glove box of his grandfather's truck.
Before the shooting, the child said that he entered Rasberry's RV and found him sleeping on his bed. That's when he allegedly approached the man and shot him one time in the head.
He also stated that as he was leaving the RV, he fired the pistol another time into the couch inside the vehicle. Then, he said he exited and returned the firearm to the glove box.
"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 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," per the press release.
On Wednesday, the firearm the boy used in Rasberry's murder was located at a pawn shop in Sequin, Texas, and has since been secured as evidence.
The child, on the other hand, was placed on a 72-hour emergency detention and transported to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio, Texas, for "evaluation and treatment."
After his hospital release, he was booked in on charges for the school bus incident but not charged for the murder of Rasberry, which happened when he was just 7.
"Because of the child's age, Texas Penal Code 8.07 states that a child does not have criminal culpability until they reach the age of 10 years old... Therefore, charges for murder will not be filed and cannot be accepted by the Gonzales County Attorney's Office for consideration of prosecution in accordance with state law," explained the sheriff.
