Nixon boy confesses to murder

GONZALES — A 10-year-old boy has told investigators that he shot and killed a man in Nixon two years ago.

According to information released April 18 by the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office, the child confessed to the deed during questioning by Nixon- Smiley Consolidated Independent School District officials about him threatening to assault and kill another student April 11.

The boy was taken to a child advocacy center, where another interview was conducted. In this interview, he described in detail the shooting of Brandon Rasberry, 32, who was found dead Jan. 18, 2022, in his recreational vehicle at the Lazy J RV Park in Nixon. Investigators determined at the time that Rasberry had been shot by a 9mm pistol.

According to the sheriff’s office, the boy told investigators in the recent interview that he had taken the pistol from his grandfather’s truck during a January 2022 visit to his grandfather’s home near where Rasberry was living; after shooting Rasberry — who he said was asleep — the boy said he returned the pistol to his grandfather’s truck. He also told investigators that his grandfather had pawned the pistol.

Investigators recovered the pistol from a pawnshop in Seguin and are holding it as evidence.

Following the boy’s evaluation at a San Antonio psychiatric hospital, he was transported to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office, where he was booked on charges of making a terroristic threat April 11 and placed in detention by Gonzales County Juvenile Probation.

Because of his age at the time of the killing, the boy cannot be charged with the 2022 murder.