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 stated 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 checklist an lawyer for Leon to touch upon the allegations.
The boy, Julian Guzman, and a cousin had been attending a party Saturday evening once they “turned bored and wished to ring doorbells, or play ‘ding dong ditch,’” in keeping with a possible trigger affidavit. The prank generally referred to as “ding dong ditching” entails 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 folks that such actions aren’t humorous however harmful. Householders haven’t any approach of understanding it’s “only a prank,” in keeping with a June Fb publish by the Georgetown, Kentucky Police Division.
Guzman’s cousin advised investigators he and Guzman knocked a number of occasions on Leon’s door and ran away. In an preliminary assertion, police had stated Guzman rang a doorbell, however the affidavit stated 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 keeping with the affidavit.
“Our witness says the suspect got here out of the door, ran out into the road and was firing down the highway,” Houston police Sgt. Michael Cass advised reporters on Sunday.
Guzman’s cousin advised police that Guzman “cried out in ache that he had been shot,” in keeping with the affidavit. As Guzman’s cousin was making an attempt to tug the boy away, Leon slowly walked again to his home.
Guzman was shot within the again and died Sunday, police stated.
“For my part, it doesn’t seem like any sort of self-defense. It wasn’t near the home,” Cass stated.
Police discovered about 20 firearms in Leon’s house, together with AR-style rifles, shotguns and medium caliber pistols.
Texas and different states have some model of a “fortress doctrine,” both by regulation or courtroom precedent, that claims residents don’t must retreat when threatened of their properties however as an alternative can reply with bodily power. Whereas Texas regulation provides individuals broad latitude to guard themselves, defend others or defend their property, there needs to be an affordable perception that power is instantly crucial within the scenario.
Seth Kretzer, an lawyer in Houston not related to the case, stated if the capturing occurred as police allege then Leon wouldn’t have a robust case for self-defense underneath state regulation.
“You simply can’t shoot a child on the street lifeless as a result of he knocks in your doorbell and declare you felt threatened by him. I imply it is somewhat laborious to imagine a grown male with a gun felt threatened by an unarmed 11-year-old little one working away on the road,” Kretzer stated.
A few half block away from the suspect’s house 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 have been written on the cross, together with, “I miss you Julian. I nonetheless want you have been right here however I’ll all the time love you 4ever” and “I 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 prior to now. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted of first-degree homicide for killing three teenage boys by deliberately ramming their automobile 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 Instances reported.
