(NEXSTAR/AP) – A man in Houston has been charged in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy after a prank in which the boy rang the doorbell of a home and ran away.
Leon Gonzalo Jr., 42, was charged Monday with murder, according to the Houston Police Department.
The boy had been ringing doorbells as a prank late Saturday evening, the Houston Police Department said in a statement. The boy, who was shot once, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead Sunday, police said.
Commonly referred to as “ding dong ditching,” the prank involves fleeing before someone inside the home opens the door. A witness said the 11-year-old was running away from the house when he was shot, police said.
Gonzalo was booked into the Harris County Jail. Police spokesperson Shay Awosiyan said that officers were still investigating.
Other “ding dong ditch” pranks have turned deadly in the past. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder for killing three teenage boys by intentionally ramming their car after they rang his doorbell as a prank.
And in May, a Virginia man was charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting an 18-year-old who had rung his doorbell while a filming a TikTok video of the prank, the New York Times reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.