What starts as a harmless prank shouldn’t end in tragedy.
Yet in Houston, an 11-year-old boy’s game of “ding dong ditch” cost him his life.
Police say Julian Guzman was ringing doorbells and sprinting away late Saturday night when shots rang out.
A bullet struck him in the back. He was rushed to hospital but died the next day.
This week, authorities charged 42-year-old Gonzalo Leon Jr with murder.
He’s accused of stepping outside and firing at the kids as they ran.
“Unfortunately, sadly enough, one of the boys, who was 11 years old, was shot in the back,” Detective Sergeant Michael Cass told local station KHOU.
He added the case “does not look like any type of self-defence.”
When Pranks Turn Deadly
The incident has sparked outrage—and unease.
Who hasn’t heard of kids playing doorbell pranks? They’re annoying, sure, but deadly?
Social media, especially TikTok, has fueled the game’s resurgence, and with it, a disturbing trend.
In Virginia earlier this year, a man shot and killed a teen pulling the same prank.
In California, another man was convicted for ramming his car into three boys after a doorbell stunt.
The Houston case is now under investigation, but it leaves a chilling question: when did childish mischief start carrying a death sentence?
