Houston – Police have charged a Houston man with murder in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy who rang the doorbell of a home and ran away as a prank, police said Tuesday.
The 42-year-old man, identified by authorities as Gonzalo Leon Jr., was taken into custody and booked into the Harris County Jail in Houston early Tuesday. On local property records, Leon matches the name of the owner of the home where police say the boy rang the doorbell.
Court records did not list an attorney for Leon to comment on the allegations.
According to police, the boy, Julian Guzman, had been ringing doorbells as a prank late Saturday. Commonly referred to as “ding dong ditching,” the prank involves fleeing before someone inside the home opens the door.
“Our witness says the suspect came out of the