A 42-year-old Texas man is charged with murder for shooting an 11-year-old boy after the victim and his friends knocked on the suspect’s door late Saturday night in what police described as a “ding-dong-ditch” prank that has been trending on TikTok and other social media platforms, according to authorities.
Leon Gonzalo Jr., the suspect, was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail on Tuesday morning, charged with one count of first-degree murder, according to court records.
During his first court appearance on Tuesday, Gonzalo requested a court-appointed attorney. He did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bond until a bail hearing on Wednesday.
The shooting occurred around 10:55 p.m. on Saturday at a home in southeast Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.
The child, who police initially said was 10 years old, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to a statement issued by police. Police identified the victim on Tuesday as 11-year-old Julian Guzman.
“Officers were told the male was ringing the doorbells of nearby homes and fleeing. A witness stated that the male was running from a house after ringing the doorbell just before suffering a gunshot wound,” Houston homicide detectives said.
It was unclear whether Gonzalo owned the home where the door-kicking prank took place, or if he simply lived there.
The alleged prank in Houston is similar to what’s being dubbed the “door-kicking challenge,” a national trend based on an old prank called “ding dong ditch,” in which groups of kids record videos of themselves kicking and banging on the doors of homes and apartments before fleeing and posting the videos on social media platforms like TikTok.
Gonzalo is believed to be the same person detained by police following Saturday’s shooting. He was released after being questioned, but was detained again after the child was pronounced dead at a hospital around 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to Houston police Sgt. Michael Cass at a weekend news conference.
Cass stated that a search warrant was served on the home, and a large number of weapons were discovered inside.
Cass stated that the boy who was shot in the back lived about a block from the house.
According to Cass, the victim and at least two of his friends had been banging on or kicking doors in their neighborhood before fleeing. Cass stated that preliminary evidence indicates that the victims and their friends fled down the street after knocking on the suspect’s door.
“Our witness says the suspect came out of the door, ran out into the street and was firing down the road,” Cass told reporters.
He said the victim managed to run about a block before collapsing in the street.
“In my opinion, it doesn’t look like any type of self-defense,” Cass told me.
The fatal shooting follows a series of incidents across the country linked to the door-kicking challenge on social media.
A 58-year-old Texas homeowner was arrested and charged with aggravated assault in July after allegedly firing multiple rounds at a vehicle fleeing his Frisco home after someone knocked on the front door, according to a Frisco Police Department statement.
According to police, the driver and two passengers of the car that was shot around 10:50 p.m. on July 28 contacted police to file a complaint, showing officers three bullet holes in the vehicle.
“However, during subsequent interviews, all admitted to ding, dong, ditching in a random neighborhood when they were confronted by a male with a firearm,” Frisco’s police said in a statement.
In June, police in Chandler, Arizona, released video footage of a group of juveniles committing the “door-kicking challenge,” alleging the group pulled the prank on the same home at least 18 times, forcing the homeowner to move out.
