HOUSTON: Police have charged a Houston man with homicide within the deadly capturing of an 11-year-old boy who knocked on the door of a house and ran away as a prank, police mentioned Tuesday (Sep 2).
The 42-year-old man, recognized by authorities as Gonzalo Leon Jr., was taken into custody and booked into the Harris County Jail in Houston early Tuesday. On native property information, Leon matches the identify of the proprietor of the house the place police say the boy knocked on the door.
Court docket information didn’t record an legal professional for Leon to touch upon the allegations.
The boy, Julian Guzman, and a cousin had been attending a party Saturday night time after they “turned bored and wished to ring doorbells, or play ‘ding dong ditch,’” in response to a possible trigger affidavit. The prank generally known as “ding dong ditching” includes ringing a doorbell or knocking on a door and fleeing earlier than somebody inside opens the door.
Police departments across the nation have issued public service bulletins in latest months warning those that such actions aren’t humorous however harmful. Owners don’t have any manner of figuring out it’s “only a prank,” in response to a June Fb publish by the Georgetown, Kentucky Police Division.
Guzman’s cousin instructed investigators he and Guzman knocked a number of instances on Leon’s door and ran away. In an preliminary assertion, police had mentioned Guzman rang a doorbell, however the affidavit mentioned the boy knocked.
The ultimate time he and the cousin knocked, Leon got here out holding a pistol that he fired as soon as into the bottom. Leon then raised the pistol and fired at Guzman and his cousin, in response to the affidavit.
“Our witness says the suspect got here out of the door, ran out into the road and was firing down the street,” Houston police Sgt. Michael Cass instructed reporters on Sunday.
Guzman’s cousin instructed police that Guzman “cried out in ache that he had been shot,” in response to the affidavit. As Guzman’s cousin was making an attempt to pull the boy away, Leon slowly walked again to his home.
Guzman was shot within the again and died Sunday, police mentioned.
“For my part, it doesn’t appear to be any kind of self-defense. It wasn’t near the home,” Cass mentioned.
Police discovered about 20 firearms in Leon’s residence, together with AR-style rifles, shotguns and medium caliber pistols.
Texas and different states have some model of a “fort doctrine,” both by regulation or court docket precedent, that claims residents don’t should retreat when threatened of their properties however as a substitute can reply with bodily drive. Whereas Texas regulation provides folks broad latitude to guard themselves, defend others or defend their property, there must be an affordable perception that drive is instantly crucial within the state of affairs.
Seth Kretzer, an legal professional in Houston not related to the case, mentioned if the capturing occurred as police allege then Leon wouldn’t have a robust case for self-defense below state regulation.
“You simply can’t shoot a child on the street useless as a result of he knocks in your doorbell and declare you felt threatened by him. I imply it is somewhat laborious to consider a grown male with a gun felt threatened by an unarmed 11-year-old youngster operating away on the road,” Kretzer mentioned.
A couple of half block away from the suspect’s residence and the place Guzman collapsed after being shot, a makeshift memorial had been arrange with a cross, prayer candles, flowers and a photograph of the boy.
Numerous messages had been written on the cross, together with, “I miss you Julian. I nonetheless want you had been right here however I’ll all the time love you 4ever” and “I really like you Julian. You’ll all the time be in my coronary heart. Relaxation In Peace Child Mother.”
Different “ding dong ditch” pranks have turned lethal previously. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted of first-degree homicide for killing three teenage boys by deliberately ramming their automotive after they rang his doorbell as a prank.
In Could, a Virginia man was charged with second-degree homicide for capturing an 18-year-old who rang his doorbell whereas a filming a TikTok video, the New York Occasions reported.
