The father of a grown man who was brutally killed in his bed by a seven-year-old boy for no reason, has revealed that they forgive the child.
On January 18, 2022, Brandon O'Quinn Rasberry, 32, was found dead in his RV in Texas, with a single gunshot wound to his head and minor graze wounds on his hands, according to the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators believed that Rasberry, who had only lived at the RV park for four days, had been dead for two days before he was discovered, after his employer phoned them to report him missing
Last week, a 10-year-old boy admitted to shooting Rasberry in cold blood as he slept, sharing key details that were not known to the public in his confession.
The case had puzzled detectives for two years, after they'd scoured Rasberry's cell phone for clues and interviewed neighbors to try and find out why someone would have executed him while he slept.
However, their investigation did not throw up any leads until last week, when the 10-year-old child from Texas confessed to the killing.
The horrific crime had come to light after a local principal called to report the child's chilling confession as well as his threats to assault and kill another student.
"Based on this information the Deputy contacted the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. Investigators determined based on the information the child told the school, the child may have knowledge about the murder of Brandon," the department said, via the New York Post.
Police said the boy, whose identity has not been revealed, "described in detail" things about the killing which had not been made public.
The child, who was just seven years old at the time of the murder, said he had been visiting his grandfather who lived in the same RV park at the time, and had spotted Rasberry walking around the lot.
The 10-year-old said he took a "dirt and army green" 9mm pistol from the glovebox of his grandfather's truck on the night of the killing, before creeping into Rasberry's RV, where the 32-year-old was sleeping.
Police stated: "The Child stated he observed Brandon sleeping in his bed and approached Brandon and discharged the firearm into Brandon striking him one time in the head.
"The child stated as he was leaving the RV he discharged the firearm another time into the couch inside the RV. The child then exited the RV and returned the firearm to the glovebox of the truck."
According to investigators, the child did not have a clear motive for killing Rasberry, and admitted he had never met the man or even knew his name.
Police added: "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."
Despite the horrific circumstances surrounding Rasberry's untimely death, his father, Kenneth Rasberry, has said he forgives the child for his heinous crime.
He said, per KSAT's reports: "I was shocked, very shocked. This isn’t anywhere the suspect that we thought it was."
The father added: "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."
Police were called on April 12 by a Nixon-Smiley Independent School District principal about a student who threatened to assault and kill another student on a bus, and had also made a statement about shooting and killing a man two years ago.
After being interviewed by police and revealing details that were not publicly known, police traced the suspected weapon to a pawn shop that the child's grandfather had sold it to, and matched it to the spent shell casings that were collected at the scene of the murder.
Despite his confession, the boy will not be charged with the crime, as according to Texas law, a child cannot be responsible for a crime until they are 10 years old.
The victim's brother, Jonathan Fojtik, told KENS5: "Finding out it was a seven-year-old that committed the murder, a senseless murder at that, it’s just tragic. It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around.
"I feel like the boy knew exactly what he was doing. Why wasn’t the child being supervised more?"
After the confession, the boy was placed on a 72-hour emergency detention before being taken to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio, Texas for evaluation and treatment. The sheriff's office stated it was "because of the severity of the crime and because of the continued concern for the child’s mental wellbeing the child."
While he can not be charged with the murder, he has since been booked on charges of making terroristic threats for the incident involving his classmate and is being held in county jail.
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