A family was brought to tears in court on Monday as they faced the man who killed a 10-year-old in a 2013 shooting inside a northwest Miami-Dade nail salon.
A sentencing hearing began for 31-year-old Anthawn Ragan, who pleaded guilty last month to 15 criminal counts including robbery, assault, and first-degree murder for killing Aaron Vu and attempted murder charges for shooting Vu’s father, Hai Vu, in the Nov. 22, 2013 crime.
The hearing will determine whether Ragan will receive life in prison or the death penalty.
The mother and father, along with other family and friends, are still devastated more than 12 years after the killing and told the judge their lives were ruined when their first-born child was taken from them.
Miami-Dade PoliceMiami-Dade Police
Aaron Vu
At one point, 911 calls from the night of the shooting were played, and some family members were so overcome with emotion they had to walk out of the courtroom.
Ragan was caught on video barging into the nail salon at 14832 Northwest 7th Avenue where he opened fire. He and another suspect fled the scene.
The two victims who were struck were taken to a nearby hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead, police said. Vu’s father, the salon’s owner, survived and spoke Monday about the horrific crime.
“They had guns pointing and shouting for the money,” Hai Vu said. “He got upset and he, I guess the money wasn’t enough, wasn’t as much as he thought, and he hit me with the butt of the gun, hit me in the head.”
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Anthawn Ragan in court on Feb. 9, 2026.
The boy’s mother, Lindsay Ma, was also there that night.
“We did what he demanded, he took all the money and he took off and turned around and I heard boom boom,” she said.
Ragan’s defense attorney, Tony Moss, pressed the judge to consider his age, noting he was 18 at the time, and arguing that life in prison is an appropriate punishment.
“You do not need to impose a sentence of death in order to adequately punish Mr. Ragan for his misdeeds, or to protect the community. He will be punished, he is being punished, we will be safe,” Moss said.
But family members said nothing can change the heartbreak they continue to endure over the boy’s loss.
“I can’t explain to you how much the pain, I don’t know, I’ve never been, never had this pain,” Hai Vu said.
Ragan is already serving a life sentence for killing a man at a motel just three weeks before the murder of Aaron Vu. Prosecutors are hoping the judge will consider that case in making her decision.
The sentencing hearing was expected to continue on Tuesday.