Boy, 10, confesses to fatally shooting a sleeping stranger but he won’t face charges
A 10-year-old boy from Texas will not face any charges for murder after he confessed to shooting a complete stranger while they were asleep.
Brandon O'Quinn Rasberry had been living in the Lazy J RV Park in Nixon, Texas in January 2022 when he failed to show up for work for two days straight, prompting his employer to call the owner of the park.
The owner went to Rasberry's RV and knocked on the door, but when he didn't receive an answer he went into the RV and discovered Rasberry, who was just 32 years old, dead.
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Deputies with the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene and found Rasberry had been shot in the head.
He had moved to the RV park just four days before he was found dead, and was believed to have been shot two days before being discovered.
Leads dry up
Following Rasberry's death, the Travis County Medical Examiner's office conducted an autopsy which showed he had been shot once in the head, and had two minor graze wounds on two of his fingers.
There was no other trauma was observed on his body, according to a press release from the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office.
Police collected several pieces of evidence from the RV, and all possible witnesses were spoken to and interviewed by investigators. Unfortunately, however, all leads were exhausted without the identification of a culprit.
Two years later
It wasn't until this month that investigators got a break in the case, after officers received a call from Nixon Smiley Independent School District Principle to report that a 10-year-old student had threatened to assault and kill another student on a bus on 11 April.
The school district contacted the police after conducting their own threat assessment on the student. As the child spoke with school officials, he made a statement that he shot and killed a man two years ago.
After investigators determined that the student may have knowledge about the murder of Rasberry, he underwent a forensic interview in which he described 'in detail' how he killed a man in a trailer in Nixon two years earlier.
What happened on the day of the murder
During his interview with police, the student claimed he had been visiting his grandfather's house at the RV Park when he obtained a pistol from the glove box of his grandfather's truck.
He described the gun as being 'dirt and army green' in color, and said he took it with him as he entered Rasberry's RV.
The student said he'd seen Rasberry walking around the RV earlier that day, but that he'd never met him and had no reason to be 'mad' at him.
Despite having no connection to Rasberry, the student said he saw him sleeping in his bed and approached him before pulling the trigger on the gun, shooting Rasberry once in the head.
Before leaving the RV, the student said he fired the gun one more time into the couch. He then returned the gun to the glovebox.
No charges filed for the murder
Following the boy's confession, investigators located the firearm at a pawn shop, where it had allegedly been pawned by his grandfather, and determined that it was the same gun used in the murder of Raspberry.
The child was then placed on a 72 hour emergency detention before being transported to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio, where he underwent evaluation and treatment.
After being released from the hospital, he was taken to the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office where he was booked in on charges relating to the school bus incident for Terroristic Threat.
However, Texas Penal Code 8.07 states that a child does not have criminal culpability until they reach the age of 10. When Rasberry was murdered, the child was just seven years old.
As a result, charges for murder will not be filed.
The child has been placed in detention by Gonzales County Juvenile Probation for the charges related to his threat on the bus. He is now awaiting his court date.
Emily Brown