Updated on: Sept 02, 2025 11:37 pm IST
11-year-old Julian Guzman was fatally shot in Houston while playing a prank. Suspect Gonzalo Leon Jr. has been charged and booked in Harris County jail.
The suspect and the victim of a fatal shooting in Houston, Texas on Saturday night have been identified. The Houston Police Department identified the 11-year-old boy fatally shot while playing ‘ding, dong, ditch’ prank as Julian Guzman. The suspect charged was identified as Gonzalo Leon Jr.
On Tuesday, Gonzalo Leon Jr was booked at the Harris County jail in Houston for the shooting in the Eastside neighborhood. The teen was pronounced dead at the hospital after being shot while playing the prank at a home on Eastside on Saturday night. It was not immediately clear if Leon Jr lived in one of the homes where Guzman knocked.
“Officers were told that Guzman was ringing doorbells of homes in the area and running away,” a statement from Houston PD read. “A witness stated Guzman was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound.”
The “ding dong ditch” involves someone ringing a doorbell (or knocks on a door) and then quickly running away before the person inside answers. It’s usually done by kids or teens as a mischievous joke.
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The shooting happened at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, and the police were informed around midnight, the department said in a statement on Sunday. Guzman was with a group of friends on Racine Street when he was running away after knocking on the door. But shots rang out, and he was hit.
HPD Homicide Division Sergeant M. Cass and Detective J. Brown had said that Guzman suffered from two gunshot wounds.
“HPD patrol officers responded to a shooting call at the above address and learned a male was shot and had been transported to an area hospital. Doctors pronounced him deceased today (Aug. 31),” Brown added.
Gonzalo Leon Jr is currently lodged in Harris County in Texas.
