A 10-year-old boy told police he shot a sleeping man in the head while visiting his grandfather in 2020, when he was 7. Police say he won't be charged with the killing.
A 10-year-old Texas boy has told investigators he shot a sleeping man in the head after breaking into the victim's home when he was 7 years old, authorities said.
The startling confession came as officers were interviewing the boy two weeks ago after school officials reported he had allegedly threatened to kill a classmate, according to a statement from the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office.
On April 12, a Nixon-Smiley Consolidated Independent School District principal told authorities the elementary school student had threatened to assault and kill a fellow student on the school bus, prompting deputies to conduct a threat assessment, the statement said.
During those discussions, the boy said he had shot Brandon Rasberry in 2022 while visiting his grandfather, the statement said.
Rasberry, 32, was found dead after he failed to report to work for two days, authorities said. His killing had gone unsolved until the boy recently confessed, the statement said.
The child will not be charged in the killing because he was too young, under state law, to be held culpable for his actions, authorities said.
The victim's father, Kenneth Rasberry, said he forgives the child.
“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,” the dad told KSAT-TV.
“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,” Rasberry said.
The boy was visiting his grandfather at the Lazy J Ranch and RV Park in January 2022, authorities said. He told deputies he had taken a gun from the glove box of his grandfather's truck and broke into Rasberry's home, according to the sheriff's statement.
He approached the sleeping Rasberry and fired one bullet into his head and fired another round into a couch, investigators said. He then replaced the weapon in his grandfather's truck, according to deputies.
“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,” according to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s statement.
The boy said his grandfather later pawned the gun, and investigators were able to locate the weapon at a local pawn shop, the statement said. Ballistic testing matched the pawned gun to the weapon that killed Rasberry, according to the statement.
The boy was taken to a psychiatric hospital and held for observation "because of the severity of the crime and because of the continued concern for the child’s mental wellbeing," the statement said.
School officials notified parents that the boy would not be returning to campus, according to a letter sent by the district.
The child is now in juvenile detention and has been charged with making a terroristic threat in the alleged school bus incident, the statement said.
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