A career criminal with an extensive violent history is now facing the potential of capital punishment after confessing to the murder of a young child during a robbery at his father's Florida nail salon over a decade ago.
Guilty Plea to Fourteen Serious Felonies
Anthawn Ragan, aged 31, entered a guilty plea on Thursday to a total of fourteen felony charges. These included robbery, assault, and the most serious charge of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of ten-year-old Aaron Vu back in 2013.
Ragan was additionally charged with attempted murder for shooting and injuring the boy's father, Hai Vu, during the violent robbery of his business premises. This guilty plea comes after the defendant was spared the death penalty last year for a separate, unrelated murder conviction, receiving a life sentence instead for that crime.
Chilling Surveillance Footage Captures the Crime
Surveillance video from the nail salon, situated within a shopping centre in the Biscayne Gardens area of north Miami, graphically depicts Ragan and an accomplice storming into the establishment with firearms drawn.
Prosecutors state that the pair threatened customers and staff at gunpoint, demanding money and collecting just over three hundred dollars. As the two men exit the salon in the footage, Ragan is clearly seen turning and firing multiple shots back into the building.
Both Aaron Vu and his father were struck by the gunfire and rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment. Tragically, the ten-year-old boy was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Waiving Trial and Jury Rights
On Thursday, Ragan formally waived his right to a trial, which would have required a jury to determine whether he was indeed the individual who entered the business and opened fire. He also waived his right to a jury for the penalty phase of the proceedings.
This means that his ultimate punishment will be decided solely by the presiding judge, Marisa Tinkler Mendez. Critically, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office has not waived its pursuit of the death penalty, leaving the possibility of capital punishment firmly on the table.
A Pattern of Violence in November 2013
The murder of Aaron Vu was part of a wider crime spree committed by Ragan during November 2013. Just weeks before the nail salon robbery, he was involved in the killing of 21-year-old Luis Perez at a local motel.
That shooting occurred in the same neighbourhood, merely one mile down the road from the salon. Prosecutors in that separate case noted Ragan's disturbing behaviour, describing how he "skipped away like a child" after shooting Perez.
Ragan's criminal activities that month also included an armed robbery at a Royal Castle restaurant, painting a picture of a sustained period of violent offending.
Community Mourning and a Lengthy Legal Process
At the time of the murder, Miami-Dade Police Spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta expressed the profound tragedy of the event, stating it was "sad, tragic, that the child was in the business at the time the crime occurred. It's senseless for an innocent 10-year-old to lose his life."
A client of the nail salon who left flowers and a teddy bear at a makeshift memorial remembered young Aaron Vu as "helpful and kind" and remarked that "he was sweet."
According to Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation records, Ragan has been held in the county's Pre-Trial Detention Center since November 26, 2013. The sheer volume and severity of his charges—which include five armed robbery charges, multiple assaults with a firearm, four first-degree murder charges, and one attempted murder charge—are believed to have contributed to the legal process stretching over more than a decade.
His extensive criminal record also lists numerous other offences, including counts of criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and lewd behaviour within a correctional facility.
