Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while he slept at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved in a few days before.
The boy’s possible connection to the case was uncovered after sheriff’s deputies were contacted on April 12 of this year about a student who threatened to assault and kill another student on a school bus. They learned the boy had made previous statements that he had killed someone two years ago.
The boy was taken to a child advocacy center, where he described for interviewers details of Rasberry’s death “consistent with first-hand knowledge” of the crime, investigators said.
What do you even do for something like this? A literal child? Do you lock them up for life? Rehabilitate under close supervision and reassess? Can someone like this even be rehabilitated?
Don’t know about US law, but where I live we have a “Preventative Detention Order” - the threshold for it is very high, but it essentially works as a sentence of “until rehabilitated”, you are incarcerated until the court decides that you are no longer a threat to the community, even in cases where a life without parole sentence wouldn’t be possible. In a world where I am supreme ruler, it’d automatically apply in cases where someone who has a conviction for a violent crime commits another violent crime.
Also, how the hell does an 8 year old get a gun? Surely whoever failed to secure it - or even worse gave it to a minor - would be looking at an accessory change?
Rehabilitation doesn’t happen in the U.S. It’s entirely about punishment.
If you’re in prison here, you deserve it. Even if you’re innocent.
Stole it from the glovebox of his grandfathers truck, it’s in the article.
But even if the glovebox was locked, if you have the keys to get into the truck, you have the keys to open the glovebox.
I hope the grandfather faces consequences as well.
Kid shot the other dude while he was asleep, so it could be the kid got up in the middle of the night, took the keys to the truck, and unlocked the gun.
I can’t see how you could hold grand dad accountable. Nobody could predict an 8 year old that psychopathic. :(
Yeah, literally no way this could have been prevented 🙄
Aren’t there any laws regarding safe gun storage?
In Texas?
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.46.htm#46.13
“IT IS UNLAWFUL TO STORE, TRANSPORT, OR ABANDON AN UNSECURED FIREARM IN A PLACE WHERE CHILDREN ARE LIKELY TO BE AND CAN OBTAIN ACCESS TO THE FIREARM.”
But then:
“(3) ‘Secure’ means to take steps that a reasonable person would take to prevent the access to a readily dischargeable firearm by a child, including but not limited to placing a firearm in a locked container or temporarily rendering the firearm inoperable by a trigger lock or other means.”
So, placing the gun in a locked glovebox in a locked car would be securing it as far as Texas is concerned.
Further:
"(b) A person commits an offense if a child gains access to a readily dischargeable firearm and the person with criminal negligence:
(1) failed to secure the firearm; or
(2) left the firearm in a place to which the person knew or should have known the child would gain access.
© It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the child’s access to the firearm:
(1) was supervised by a person older than 18 years of age and was for hunting, sporting, or other lawful purposes;
(2) consisted of lawful defense by the child of people or property;
(3) was gained by entering property in violation of this code; or"
So under c3 - The kid stealing the keys and getting the gun anyway would seem to exonerate grand dad.
If I put a gun in a safe and keep the key readily available to anyone, it’s not safely stored.
“Take steps a resonable person would take.”
That’s a low bar.
Yeah pretty sure c3 applies when the kid is trespassing on the property. He was staying there.
There is no way that gramps can’t be charged for doing exactly that.
According to 46.13. (e) it is only a class A misdemeanor however. IMO this should be treated as a felony.
“would gain access” not “could gain access”.
Glovebox of a car is not a proper storage space for firearms
Texas’ safe storage law only requires it be “secured”, not the methodology for securing it.
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.46.htm#46.13
(3) “Secure” means to take steps that a reasonable person would take to prevent the access to a readily dischargeable firearm by a child, including but not limited to placing a firearm in a locked container or temporarily rendering the firearm inoperable by a trigger lock or other means.
“locked container”. So in this case, a locked glovebox in a locked car. Now if he failed to lock either, that’s a problem.
Limit access to guns?
Hey hey hey that’s enough. Guns are not the problem at all. We need guns to protect us from bad men.
/s
For sure. I bet the guy who was shot in his sleep would have been fine if keep a gun in his hand while sleeping - to scare away intruders. Maybe another gun under the pillow for extra safety. Nothing can stop gun violence except more guns.
(still /s … Some people in the USA are really weird about guns, and I don’t want to fall afoul of Poe’s law.)
If that man had a gun connected to a booby trap to protect him while he was sleeping, he wouldn’t be dead at the moment!
Well firstly interview all of the child’s caregivers. Determine the living conditions the child has experienced for the past several years. Determine what failures of supervision happened that resulted in an 8 year old gaining access to a firearm.
Then remediate unsafe living conditions, provide therapy, and charge whatever people who were responsible for the kid with manslaughter.
ban gta duh
/s
Yep of course lol
Psychopathic behavior. Only thing to do would be lifetime commitment.
LiFeTiMe
Right …
I thought I was going crazy haha. Adults don’t even always do life for murder.
Sure you meant lifetime free mental services in response to something a 7 YEAR OLD did
Yup. Psychopaths can’t really be cured.
https://therapist.com/disorders/psychopathy/
Amazing that you know so much about this child’s medical diagnoses. Where are you getting this information?
The fact that he straight up killed a guy he did not know and had no contact with. That’s classic psychopathic behavior.
Follow that with threatening to kill another kid at school and bragging about how he already killed someone already.
what are the main elements of psychopathic behavior? surely it isn’t about how much contact you have with the guy you kill. what in particular about that behavior is psychopathic?
https://www.healthline.com/health/psychopath
behavior that conflicts with social norms - Yes
disregarding or violating the rights of others - Yes
inability to distinguish between right and wrong - Yes
difficulty with showing remorse or empathy - Yes
tendency to lie often - Unknown, but likely.
manipulating and hurting others - Yes.
recurring problems with the law - Yes.
general disregard toward safety and responsibility - Yes.
expressing anger and arrogance on a regular basis - Yes.
So out of 7 categories, this kid hits 6 of them.
doesn’t look like a list made for a 7 year old.
Ah, so you’re just full of shit and diagnosing someone you’ve never met with credentials you do not have.
what about idiocy?
Oh, man, if only there was a cure for idiocy…
arrest the parents for leaving weapons lying around. Bar him from gun ownership until 1,000 hours of community service are done.
He doesn’t need a gun again, at all
You act like he killed someo…
Oh.
You make sure it can’t breed, and then you arrest the parents, do the same, and lock them all up.
I dont know if you are a troll or just an honest sociopath. And i honestly dont care. But to just impulsively call a child “it”, and then continue going down such an unfeeling, inhuman line of thought, imo, is morally obtuse and offensive to society as a whole. Your response here is neither welcome nor encouraged. Sincerely, fuck you.
Troll
Hey, at least I don’t kill people. I’m the bad guy.
Well seig my heil, honey! Jong my Un, loooooord.