A 10-year-old child has confessed to an unsolved murder in Texas, telling detectives that he shot a guy he didn’t know while the victim was sleeping, authorities said Friday.
Texas law requires a minor to be at least ten years old to have criminal culpability
The kid, who was just shy of his eighth birthday when the man was shot two years ago, has been evaluated at a psychiatric facility but cannot be charged due to his age at the time, according to a news release from the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office.
Texas law requires a minor to be at least ten years old to have criminal culpability. Authorities say the child is being kept in juvenile custody after threatening a student on a bus earlier this month.
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while sleeping at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, roughly 60 miles east of San Antonio, according to investigators. He had just moved in a few days prior.
The boy’s suspected involvement in the case was discovered when the sheriff’s deputies were alerted on April 12 of this year about a student threatening to assault and kill another kid on a school bus. They discovered that the youngster had previously stated that he had killed someone two years ago.
The boy was placed in 72-hour emergency detention “due to the gravity of the crime”
The boy was taken to a child advocate center, where he told interviewers information about Rasberry’s death that was “consistent with first-hand knowledge” of the murder, according to investigators.
The child explained that he had been visiting his grandfather, who resided in the RV park just a few lots away from Rasberry. He described the 9 mm pistol as “dirt and army green” and claimed to have taken it from his grandfather’s truck’s glove compartment.
According to authorities, the youngster recalled entering Rasberry’s RV, shooting him in the head, and then shooting into the couch before exiting and returning the gun to the vehicle.
The child informed his interviewer that he had seen Rasberry in the RV park earlier that day, but had never met him and had no cause to be angry with him. Rasberry’s body was discovered after he failed to appear for work for two days.
The youngster claimed his grandfather later sold the weapon. Deputies found it in a pawn shop. Investigators said that round shells from the prior crime site matched the gun.
The boy was placed in 72-hour emergency detention “due to the gravity of the crime and ongoing concerns about the child’s mental health,” according to the sheriff’s office.
He was sent to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment before returning to Gonzales County. He was held in juvenile custody after being charged with making a terroristic threat for the school bus incident.
