Boy, 11, shot dead after 'ding dong ditch' prank goes horribly wrong
By: James Liddell (The Independent)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The child's fatal shooting in Houston is at least the second death in the U.S. this year linked to the prank
James LiddellMonday 01 September 2025 08:03 EDT11-year-old shot dead while playing ding-dong-ditch
An 11-year-old boy has died after being shot multiple times while playing "ding, dong, ditch" on a Houston resident, police say.
The child and several of his friends ran from door to door pressing buzzers trying to evade residents who answered, in the east area of the city on Saturday evening, cops said.
As the kids ran from a house near Mimbrough and Fidelity streets just before 11 p.m., someone chased after them with a weapon and started firing rounds, a witness told KHOU 11. The victim, who has not yet been identified, was struck in the back, Houston Police Department said.
Emergency responders with the Houston Fire Department transported the victim to a hospital in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. The boy succumbed to his injuries on Sunday afternoon, police said.
The child died on Sunday after playing a prank on a Houston resident the evening before, police say (KHOU 11)
Police said a person was detained at the scene for questioning by homicide detectives on Sunday morning before being released. No arrests had been made by Monday morning. While executing a search warrant at the property, investigators said they collected several rifles and handguns as evidence.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and are working with the Harris County District Attorney's Office on possible charges.
Sergeant Michael Cass, a homicide detective with the Houston Police Department, told the CBS News affiliate that the suspect would "more than likely" face a murder charge.
Cass said the boy's death did not appear to involve self-defense because the shooting "wasn't close to the house."
Neighbors were shocked after the seemingly innocent prank ended in tragedy.
"What harm could they have done? Playing with a doorbell? That's the part that really kind of hurts the heart," one resident told the news station. "For someone to shoot him in the back, they knew they were a kid. What's the purpose of it?"
Another neighbor urged potential pranksters against "going knocking on people's doors."
As ding-dong-ditch pranks surged after being posted to TikTok, other injuries have been documented in recent years.
An 18-year-old high school senior in Virginia was shot and killed in May while filming the stunt for the social media platform.
In 2020, a California man rammed a car carrying six teenagers after they pulled a similar prank, killing three 16-year-olds. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2023.
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He taught that kid to never ring his doorbell again.
I wonder what he would do to kids who egg his house on halloween.
We did that prank when we were kids - but back then, and in Cansda, there was no way we would get shot. Today, in America, it doesn't even have to be a prank - you could get shot turning around in someone's driveway, or if you knock on a person's door to get directions cause you're lost. I have read news stories about both those things happening.
Someone's got anger issues, definately not a responsible gun owner
11 year old boys are going to do things like this. Most likely the shooter has anger issues even when he doesnt have a gun in his hand.
It seems that generally two types of people who continually do these stupid types of pranks. One type tend to be immature teenage or pre-teen age boys. (Of which, unfortunately the seem to be many).
Lol I must admit to having done this sort of thing when I was about the victims age, luckily we didn't target any armed rage monsters.
Agreed, not a responsible gun owner. And the individual who fired the gun is being charged with murder.
This is the way it should work, holding the individual accountable for their actions.
Agreed
Well, that’s terrible.
I hate these pranks too, but not enough to murder someone for it.
Here is a prank that is going to get someone killed eventually.
Fake shooter surge triggers chaos at colleges across U.S.
Probably will. I have already read of pranksters using a toy gun to prank rob someone and get shot dead instead
The "door kicking challenge" in which kids kick the door like they are trying to break in is not the same as "ding dong ditch".