A boy has confessed to shooting a 32-year-old stranger while he slept in a Texas trailer park two years ago, when he was just seven years old.
The unnamed child, now 10, was arrested this month after his school principal reported him to police for allegedly threatening to “attack and kill another student in a bus “.
He was later questioned and admitted to shooting and killing Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, who was found dead at Lazy J RV Park on January 18, 2022, in Nixon.
The boy will not face murder charges due to his age, but was taken to a psychiatric facility for evaluation and treatment.
Rasberry’s father, Kenneth, told KSAT, “He is forgiven. And he can still be saved. He is so young. He’s definitely tormented by something.
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was found dead at Lazy J RV Park on Jan. 18, 2022, in Nixon.
He was found dead in his RV with a single gunshot wound to the head, with the cause of death listed as homicide.
Rasberry was found dead in his RV with a single gunshot wound to the head, with the cause of death listed as homicide.
For more than two years, police struggled to track down a suspect and his family was forced to launch their own investigation, writing: “We will leave no stone unturned in our search for the truth about what happened to you, Brandon Rasberry. »
He had moved to the park just days before his death and was working at Holmes Food in Nixon. His body was found after he didn’t show up for work for two days.
As police struggled to find a suspect, his family was left “incredibly heartbroken” by his death, calling him a “special, kind, generous and loving soul”.
Then this month, a superintendent in the Nixon Smiley Independent School District called the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office to report a child who allegedly threatened to “assault and kill another student on a bus.”
When police questioned the principal, she told them that “the child said he shot a man two years ago.”
The boy was then taken to a child advocacy center where he was questioned by deputies and revealed direct knowledge of Rasberry’s murder.
He told police he was staying at the RV park with his grandfather when he took a 9mm pistol from the glove compartment of his grandfather’s truck, entered Rasberry and shot him in the head while he slept.
He then shot up the couch in his RV and put the gun back in the glove compartment.
He said he didn’t know Rasberry, but had seen him walking in the park earlier in the day and said he had no reason not to like him.
For more than two years, police struggled to track down a suspect and his family was forced to launch their own investigation.
The boy was arrested this month after his school principal reported him to police for threatening to “attack and kill another student on a bus.”
He was not charged with murder because he was only seven years old at the time and Texas law does not allow criminal culpability until age 10.
The sheriff’s office said: “When asked, the child stated that he had never met Brandon and did not know who he was, although he had observed him walking around in the camper van earlier in the day.
“The child was also asked if he was angry at Brandon for any reason or if Brandon had ever done something to him that made him mad, the child responded no.”
Investigators later found the gun at a pawn shop in Seguin, Texas, and bullet casings found at the scene matched the gun.
The child was taken to a San Antonio psychiatric hospital for evaluation and treatment, then to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office and charged with terroristic threatening for the school bus incident.
He was not charged with murder because he was only seven years old at the time and Texas law does not allow criminal culpability until age 10.
Rasberry’s family was surprised to learn that their son’s killer was a child.
The victim’s father, Kenneth, told KSAT, “He’s nowhere near the suspect we thought he was.” He’s a little boy, for reasons that I’m sure these counselors and these case managers and all that stuff are going to destroy this poor little boy’s brain.
“We must pray for him. He needs to be comforted… He is forgiven. And he can still be saved. He is so young. He’s definitely tormented by something.