42-year-old Gonzalo Leon Jr. was arrested at his home in Houston's Eastside on 2/9 and charged with murder in the shooting death of a teenager who had been playing "ding-dong ditch."
According to case files, 11-year-old Julian Guzman and his cousin were in the neighborhood on the evening of August 30 attending a family birthday party. Around 11 p.m., out of boredom, the two children decided to ring doorbells at several houses in the area.
After the children rang the doorbell of Leon Jr.'s blue house, he opened the door, grabbed a handgun, and chased them. Guzman's cousin stated that Leon Jr. fired the first shot into the ground and then raised the gun, aiming at the fleeing children, and fired again.
Guzman was shot in the back and collapsed. His cousin dragged him to safety and screamed for help. Guzman died the next day, August 31, at the hospital.
SWAT and local police surrounded Leon Jr.'s house, using a loudspeaker to urge him to surrender for about 20 minutes before he complied.
The suspect's wife said they were home with their young daughter at the time of the incident. Police found about 20 guns inside the house, including AR-style rifles, handguns, and shotguns.
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Gonzalo Leon Jr., the suspect in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy in Houston, Texas. _Photo: CNN_ |
The shooting is not considered self-defense because the victim "did not die near the house", according to Sergeant Michael Cass of the Houston Police Department's Homicide Division.
An autopsy revealed Guzman was shot from at least 6 meters, a distance far enough to not pose a threat.
Leon Jr. is scheduled to appear in court today. Prosecutors are expected to request the judge set bail at 1 million USD.
Janet Rodriguez, Guzman's mother, described her son's death as "unbearable pain." "He was just a kid, he didn't hurt anyone. They took my baby boy too soon. He had his whole life ahead of him, he didn't deserve this," Rodriguez said.
The "ding-dong ditch" prank is gaining popularity on TikTok in the US, leading to a series of fatal shootings. In late July, a 58-year-old man in North Texas was arrested after firing shots at a group of teenagers who rang his doorbell and ran away.
In May, a Virginia man fatally shot an 18-year-old participating in the prank at 3 a.m. for a TikTok video. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted of murder after ramming his car into a vehicle carrying six teenagers involved in "ding-dong ditch," killing three.
Duc Trung (_CNN, NBC News_)
