The suspect within the deadly ‘ding dong ditch’ capturing of an 11-year-old boy is a US Military vet. Right here’s what we all know

Eleven-year-old Julián Guzman and his cousin had been hanging out at a household occasion late Saturday after they determined to department out on their very own.

However what began as harmless enjoyable would quickly take a devastating flip.

They took to the streets of their east Houston neighborhood to play an age-old prank: ring a neighbor’s doorbell, and flee earlier than they’ve time to reply.

The pair had efficiently tricked different neighborhood residents after they came across a home on Mimbrough Road simply earlier than 11 p.m. The 2-story house towered over the cousins, however its spacious porch and home windows removed from the entrance door made it excellent for ding-dong-ditching.

Julián reached for the doorbell, able to run.

After ringing the bell, the younger boys took off, making it at the very least 20 toes away earlier than the entrance door opened and two photographs rang out — one discovering its mark in Julián’s again, Harris County District Lawyer Sean Teare instructed CNN.

The preteen’s dying from his accidents on the hospital the subsequent day made him the most recent, and one of many youngest, victims of lethal violence incited by the doorbell prank that’s been repopularized for a brand new era by social media.

“They had been doing what 11-year-old boys do, simply taking part in pranks on neighbors,” Teare stated. “Tragically, it price him his life.”

Right here’s what we all know.

A cousin dragged the boy’s mortally wounded physique after he was shot

Julián’s cousin instructed police that he and Julián obtained bored at a household party and determined to play “ding dong ditch” at some neighborhood houses, a prison criticism says.

The 2 boys knocked on the doorways of a number of houses earlier than arriving on the house of Gonzalo Leon Jr., the criticism says. On the time, Leon was at house together with his spouse and toddler daughter, the court docket doc states.

The boys knocked on Leon’s door a number of instances and ran away. The cousin then “noticed a male wearing black exit the picket gate connected” to the home, court docket data say.

The person shot as soon as “into the bottom” after which “raised the pistol and shot as soon as once more of their route,” the criticism says. Julián “collapsed to the bottom, asking for assist,” and cried out in ache that he had been shot.

The cousin instructed police that as he returned to assist Julián, he needed to “Military” drag the wounded boy “as a result of he believed that his legs had been paralyzed.”

The cousin additionally instructed police that the one that shot Julián “was standing subsequent to the cease signal proper in entrance of the home.” A detective confirmed, “there’s a cease signal on the nook in entrance of the home.”

Julián died “whereas being handled for a gunshot wound to his again,” court docket paperwork state.

An Military veteran is charged with homicide

The capturing suspect, 42-year-old Leon, is a army veteran who served within the US Military and the Military Nationwide Guard, an Military spokesperson instructed CNN. The Military is working to confirm further particulars about Leon’s service.

As Julián ran from Leon’s house, he had no weapons, and there wasn’t any indication that he stole something, Teare stated. Regardless of this, investigators consider the suspect fired his gun twice, as soon as in an “intentional, measured means” that struck the boy.

The piercing pops from the firearm had been changed by a special type of cacophony. Officers used a blaring automobile PA system to demand the suspect come out of his house, in line with court docket paperwork.

After about 20 minutes, Leon emerged and was detained by authorities, the prison criticism states.

Early the subsequent morning, officers introduced him again to the house, handcuffed, CNN affiliate KTRK reported.

Leon was charged with Julián’s homicide Monday, the metropolis of Houston introduced Tuesday.

Teare, the district legal professional, instructed CNN prices weren’t filed till authorities had possible trigger. “As soon as we obtained to a degree, someday on Sunday, that we consider that we had a good suggestion of what occurred, that was when prices had been filed.”

Bond set at $1 million

Leon made an preliminary court docket look Tuesday and agreed to have a court-appointed legal professional.

On Wednesday, he appeared in an orange jail uniform earlier than Decide Emily DeToto. who set his bond at $1 million. Leon’s bond circumstances embrace house confinement and digital monitoring.

Prosecutor John Brewer instructed the choose that extra prices may very well be filed. He stated a capital homicide cost is feasible, given the younger age of the sufferer.

In the course of the investigation, Leon’s spouse gave consent for officers to enter the house. There, they discovered about 20 weapons, together with AR-style rifles and handguns, Brewer stated.

However protection legal professional Gianpaolo Macerola stated Leon, a disabled Military veteran, “was merely exercising his constitutional (proper) – one which he has fought for, for his nation.”

Leon’s protection legal professional stated it was unclear whether or not his shopper was a US citizen. The choose stated his birthplace was listed as “YY” – an indicator of a rustic not included within the Nationwide Crime Data Middle’s checklist of nations.

‘We’re turning over each rock’

With a suspect in custody, Teare stated investigators are “canvassing the whole neighborhood” for proof to construct a extra complete image of the evening that turned devastating for Julián’s household.

The boys left the household occasion a number of streets over from the Mimbrough Road house as a result of they “stopped wanting to hang around with the remainder of the household and needed to go be youngsters,” Teare stated.

Investigators are working to nail down which homes the boys visited earlier than Leon’s and the way lengthy Leon had been in the home earlier than the boys obtained there, he stated.

Police don’t have something that exhibits the incident “surveillance footage clever,” Teare stated, when requested by CNN if there was a doorbell digicam on the suspect’s home or surrounding houses that captured the capturing.

However he stated the investigation is ongoing.

“We’re beating each bush, we’re turning over each rock,” Teare stated. “We’re going to exhaust each investigative effort.”

Witness statements, bodily proof from the scene and the post-mortem from the health worker all helped to tell Leon’s homicide cost, he stated, and will assist to slender the choices for protection at trial.

How far do Texas self-defense legal guidelines go?

Many states have legal guidelines granting folks the correct to make use of power — even lethal power — in anywhere the place they’ve a authorized proper to be, like a house, automobile or office.

Sometimes called a “Fortress Doctrine” or “Stand Your Floor” laws, these legal guidelines in Texas decide an individual is justified in defending themselves, household and property if somebody unlawfully enters or tries to enter personal premises.

In Texas, a state with “one of many strongest ‘stand your floor’ legal guidelines,” in line with its governor, folks can use lethal power in the event that they consider it’s “instantly mandatory” towards one other particular person’s use of lethal power, or to forestall assault, theft and sure different crimes.

Prosecutors firmly deny that such a laws is related to Leon’s alleged actions Saturday evening.

“The citadel doctrine doesn’t apply in any means, form or type to an 11-year-old boy operating down the road,” Teare instructed CNN. “There was no risk to the person that shot him.”

Whereas the regulation gives sturdy protections, instances depend upon particular info from every incident, and regulation enforcement or a jury can nonetheless scrutinize a suspect’s actions to find out if the usage of power was justified.

Age-old prank repopularized by social media

Ding-dong-ditching has been round for generations, lengthy held as a mischievous and infantile prank. Within the rise of brief video-driven social media, customers now usually go viral on platforms like TikTok after filming themselves within the act, eliciting upset responses from owners.

However its latest resurgence in recognition has left youngsters throughout the nation lifeless after they ring doorbells or pound on and kick entrance doorways.

In a Dallas suburb on the finish of July, a person fired photographs right into a fleeing automotive after somebody banged on his door, in line with police. The person was arrested on prices of aggravated assault.

In 2020, three 16-year-olds had been killed when a person rammed his automotive into their automobile in retaliation for pulling a ding-dong-ditch prank on him. The person was convicted of three counts of homicide and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole in 2023.

Authorities across the US have warned of the bodily risks and authorized penalties for kids who have interaction within the prank.

“Suppose it’s humorous to bang on doorways and run? Suppose once more,” the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Workplace in Indiana wrote in a Fb publish in August. “What may look like a prank can result in severe authorized hassle, property harm, or worse – somebody getting damage.”

“That’s a great way to finish up lifeless, particularly in Florida,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Workplace instructed CNN affiliate WESH in July after arresting a 13-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy for kicking a resident’s door one evening.

TikTok has not responded to CNN’s questions on when the corporate first discovered “ding dong ditch” pranks had been resulting in bodily hurt or whether or not the platform has taken any motion to limit such posts.

CNN’s Ed Lavandera, Ashley Killough, Amanda Jackson, Karina Tsui and Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this report.

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