Boy, 11, shot dead after playing doorbell-ringing prank in Houston, police say | Houston

An 11-year-old boy playing a common prank game of ringing doorbells in Houston, Texas, was shot dead on Saturday as he ran away from a house.

Authorities said the boy was struck several times as he and some friends were buzzing doorbells in an Eastside neighborhood.

The Houston police department have not released the identity of the boy or the occupant of the home, but said a middle-aged man has been arrested and several weapons were later recovered from the home.

Police said the boy had been playing “ding-dong ditch”, which involves ringing on the doorbell of a home and running away. A witness saw the boy ring a doorbell and flee the property before he was struck by gunfire.

“A witness stated the male was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound,” police said in a police statement.

Neighbors later told KPCR 2 that a man was seen being led in handcuffs out of a police vehicle and walking him to the home where the shooting happened.

Houston homicide detective Michael Cass told CBS News affiliate KHOU that a witness had recalled someone exiting the house that was pranked and “shooting at the kids running down the street”.

“Unfortunately, sadly enough, one of the boys, who was 11 years old, was shot in the back,” Cass said.

The game has led to deaths before. In 2023, a California man was found guilty of murder for intentionally ramming the car of six teens who buzzed his doorbell, killing three.

In May, a man in Virginia was charged with second-degree murder after he shot and killed a teenager who had filmed a TikTok video playing the doorbell game on the man’s home at 3am, according to local police reports.