A boy has confessed to shooting a 32-year-old stranger while he was sleeping in a Texas trailer park two years ago when he was just seven years old.
The unnamed child, who is now 10, was caught this month after his school principal reported him to the police for allegedly threatening to ‘assault and kill another student on a bus’.
He was then interviewed and admitted to shooting and killing Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, who was found dead at the 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’s forgiven. And he can still be saved. He’s so young. He’s definitely tormented by something’.
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was found dead at the Lazy J RV Park on January 18 2022, in Nixon.
He was found dead in his RV with a single bullet wound to his head with the cause of death listed as homicide
Rasberry was found dead in his RV with a single bullet wound to his head with the cause of death listed as homicide.
For over two years, police struggled to find a suspect and his family were 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 into the park just days before his death and was working at the Holmes Food in Nixon – his body was found after he didn’t appear at work for two days.
As police struggled to find a suspect, his family were left ‘incredibly heartbroken’ by his death, labeling him a ‘special soul, kind, giving, and loving.’
Then this month, a principal at the Nixon Smiley Independent School District called Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office to report a child for allegedly threatening ‘to assault and kill another student on a bus’.
When police interviewed the principal they told them 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 by deputies and revealed firsthand knowledge of Rasberry’s murder.
He told officers that 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’s RV and shot him in the head while he was asleep.
He then shot the sofa in his RV and returned the gun to the glove compartment.
He said that he didn’t know Rasberry, but had seen him walking through the park earlier that day, and said he had no reason to dislike him.
For over two years, police struggled to find a suspect and his family were forced to launch their own investigation
The child was caught this month after his school principal reported him to the police for threatening to ‘assault and kill another student on a bus’
He has not been charged with murder as he was only seven at the time and Texas law doesn’t allow for criminal culpability before the age of 10
The Sheriff’s office said: ‘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.’
Investigators then found the gun in a pawn shop in Seguin, Texas, and the bullet casings from the scene matched the weapon.
The child was taken to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment and then to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office and booked in on a terroristic threat charge for the school bus incident.
He has not been charged with murder as he was only seven at the time and Texas law doesn’t allow for criminal culpability before the age of 10.
Rasberry’s family were surprised to learn that their son’s murderer was a child.
The victim’s father, Kenneth, told KSAT: ‘This isn’t anywhere the suspect we thought it was. This is a little boy, for reasons that I’m sure these counselors and case managers and all of that, that’s going to pick that poor little boy’s brain apart.
‘He needs to be prayed on. He needs to be comforted… He’s forgiven. And he can still be saved. He’s so young. He’s definitely tormented by something.’
