MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A first responder testified Tuesday about the desperate effort to save a 10-year-old boy who was shot during a robbery at a Miami-Dade nail salon, as the penalty phase continued for the man convicted of killing the child.
Edgardo Chardon, a paramedic who responded to the scene, told the court that one of the boy’s exit wounds still contained a bullet.
“One of the exit wounds had an actual bullet that was falling out of him,” Chardon said.
Authorities said Aaron Vu was shot during the robbery and airlifted to Jackson North Medical Center, where he later died.
The defendant, Anthawn Ragan Jr., is facing the death penalty for the second time in the past year. He was previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing a man weeks before the nail salon robbery in northwest Miami-Dade.
Prosecutors said Ragan, 31, robbed the salon, shot and killed Aaron, and also shot the boy’s father, Hai Vu, who survived.
The penalty phase began Monday before a judge after Ragan waived his right to a jury trial. Aaron’s parents delivered emotional testimony directed at the man who killed their son.
Lindsey Ma, Aaron’s mother, testified that she complied with the robber’s demands before hearing gunshots.
“We did what they said, and after they took the money, I heard a boom, boom,” Ma said.
Hai Vu testified that he forgives Ragan.
“I forgive you. I know that’s what my son would’ve wanted me to do,” he said.
Aaron’s family returned to the courtroom Tuesday as a psychologist testified about Ragan’s mental state.
Michael Brannon said Ragan showed an inability to demonstrate basic knowledge during an evaluation, citing one instance in which Ragan incorrectly identified the “shape of a basketball as a square.”
However, Brannon testified that he believed Ragan was malingering — or faking — claims of having a low IQ or a severe mental health disorder at the time of the crimes, which were committed when Ragan was 19.
“The answers he was giving me were answers that he was fabricating or formulating,” Brannon said.
Defense attorneys pointed to Ragan’s upbringing, noting that his father was a violent man who is serving a life sentence for murder, arguing that the environment may have affected Ragan’s development.
Brannon acknowledged that exposure to violence can impair emotional regulation and academic performance.
Ragan declined to take the stand on Tuesday.
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