HOUSTON (AP) – An 11-year-old boy was fatally shot in Houston after a prank in which he rang the doorbell of a home and ran away, police said Sunday.
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The boy had been ringing doorbells as a prank late Saturday evening, the Houston Police Department said in a statement. Commonly referred to as “ding dong ditching,” the prank involves fleeing before someone inside the home opens the door.
The boy, who has not yet been identified, died of his wounds Sunday, police said.
Police spokesperson Shay Awosiyan said that officers were still investigating and had not arrested anybody in connection with the boy’s death as of Sunday evening.
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.
Its hard to understand what happened from the story. Did the kid simply ring the bell and run away or was he doing what has been reported at other times where kids are actually kicking the door over and over multiple times making the home owner believe it was possibly a home invasion? If just ringing the bell he may find himself with a bit of explaining to do. As for the home owner ramming the car in another incident and being convicted, good. No legal justification for that. The law allows us to protect ourselves from imminent death or great bodily harm. Not seek retribution.
There’s got to be more to the story than is being reported here
Don’t do stupid things and most likely you won’t get killed
Hang this murderer out to dry. Who shoots someone for ringing a doorbell?? Doesn’t matter what time it is. Completely unhinged nut job.
take away his gun license(if he had one)
Nice that they have the death penalty