10-year-old boy confesses to fatally shooting a man in his sleep 2 years ago, Texas authorities say
Austin, Texas — A 10-year-old boy has confessed to an unsolved murder in Texas, telling investigators that he shot a man he did not know while the victim was sleeping, authorities said Friday.
The boy, who had just reached his eighth birthday when the man was shot two years ago, was evaluated at a psychiatric hospital but cannot be charged with the crime because of his age at the time, the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. press release.
Texas law requires a child to be at least 10 years old to be criminally liable. The boy is in juvenile detention for threatening a student on a bus in a separate incident earlier this month, authorities said.
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while sleeping at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved a few days earlier.
The boy’s possible connection to the case came to light after sheriff’s deputies were contacted on April 12 of this year about a student threatening to attack and kill another student on a school bus. They found out that the boy had previously stated that he had killed someone two years ago.
The boy was taken to a child protection center, where he described to interviewers the details of Rasberry’s death “consistent with firsthand knowledge” of the crime, investigators said.
The boy said he had been visiting his grandfather, who lived a few blocks away in Rasberry’s mobile home park. He described the 9mm pistol and its “dirty and army green” color, saying he got it from the glove compartment of his grandfather’s truck.
The boy described entering Rasberry’s camper, shooting him in the head and shooting him again at the couch before leaving, then putting the gun back in the truck, investigators said.
The boy told his interviewer that he had seen Rasberry at the RV park earlier in the day, but had never met him and had no reason to be angry with him. Rasberry’s body was found after he missed work for two days.
The boy said his grandfather later sold the gun. Officers found it in a pawn shop. Shell casings from the previous crime scene were matched to the weapon, investigators said.
The boy was placed in 72-hour emergency detention “due to the seriousness of the offense and due to ongoing concerns for the child’s mental well-being,” the sheriff’s office said.
He was taken to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment and then returned to Gonzales County. He was booked into juvenile detention on charges of making a terroristic threat following the school bus incident.
It was not immediately clear whether the boy’s family has an attorney. The Associated Press left a telephone message seeking comment with the office of Gonzales County Attorney Paul Watkins.