News out of Texas

A deadly shooting that claimed the life of an 11-year-old boy over the weekend started out as seemingly harmless fun between two young cousins who got bored at a family birthday party.

The night of Aug. 30 ended in tragedy when Julian Guzman was shot by 42-year-old Gonzalo Leon Jr. after ding-dong-ditching at the man's house in Houston. Guzman died Aug. 31 and Leon was arrested and charged with his murder, the latest in a string of violent and sometimes deadly reactions to childlike pranks.

The boys were running from Leon's house when he fired at them just before 11 p.m. CT, according to a statement given by the victim's cousin that was revealed in a criminal complaint.

"And unfortunately, sadly enough, one of the boys, who was 11 years old, was shot in the back," Houston Police Department Sgt. Michael Cass told reporters.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the charge probably would be upgraded to capital murder, a spokesperson for his office, Rafael Lemaitre, told USA TODAY. In Texas, capital murder comes into play when aggravating factors are present, such as the victim being younger than 15.

"This was someone brutally murdering an 11-year-old simply because they were mad," Teare told Fox 26. "We have a little boy who didn’t even have a chance to get his life going yet, struck down for nothing."

New details in the case were revealed in court records obtained by USA TODAY. They showed Leon fired more than once after the boys had knocked on his door multiple times. Here's what we know.

Cousins were playing ding-dong-ditch

The victim's cousin told investigators that the two were attending a family birthday party about a block from the scene of the shooting, according to a criminal complaint filed in Harris County court. The cousins "grew bored" and decided to venture off on their own to play the classic children's prank of ringing doorbells or knocking on doors and running away before the home occupants get to the door.

They knocked on the door of a blue house, later identified as Leon's house, several times and ran away, the cousin said, according to the complaint. The last time they pulled the prank on the house, the cousin said they saw a man dressed in black emerge from a side gate holding a pistol. The man shot the pistol into the ground, the cousin said.

As the boys ran down the street, the man raised the pistol again and fired at them, striking Guzman in the back. Guzman fell and cried out, his cousin told investigators. The cousin tried to drag Guzman away and saw the shooter walk back inside the house.

Guzman died in the hospital, authorities said.

Suspect had trove of weapons

Authorities searched the home and recovered about 20 firearms, including a handful of AR-style rifles, shotguns and medium-caliber pistols, according to the criminal complaint.

Leon's wife told authorities she and their toddler daughter were inside the house at the time of the shooting, according to the complaint.

When he was taken into custody, Leon did not provide a statement to police and asked for a lawyer. Court records did not list an attorney who could comment on Leon's behalf as of Sept. 3.

Doorbell pranks turn deadly

This is not the first instance of a ding-dong-ditch prank ending in a shooting. At least two other shootings this year have been tied to a TikTok social media trend in which participants ding-dong-ditch.

Earlier in August, a Texas man was arrested on charges of aggravated assault after police said he fired multiple times at a vehicle with three teenagers inside who admitted to doorbell-pranking at the man’s house in late July.

A Virginia 18-year-old was shot and killed in May and a homeowner charged with crimes including second-degree murder. Another teen was injured in the shooting.

A California man was convicted of murder after a doorbell prank in 2020. Anurag Chandra rammed his car into a vehicle of six teenagers, killing three 16-year-olds, after they played a similar prank. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Suspect in ding-dong-ditch murder shot at boys running from his house. What we know.

Reporting by Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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