{"id":192841,"date":"2025-09-02T01:05:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192841\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T01:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:05:15","slug":"11-year-old-fatally-shot-after-ding-dong-ditch-prank-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192841\/","title":{"rendered":"11-year-old fatally shot after ‘ding-dong ditch’ prank in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HOUSTON<\/strong> – An 11-year-old in Houston is dead after reportedly being shot by a homeowner while playing a “ding-dong ditch” prank; ringing a doorbell, running away, and then being shot in the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recently, a similar case played out here in North Texas<\/a>, where a man allegedly shot at teenagers playing the same prank.<\/p>\n

Fatal Houston ding-dong ditch \"\" <\/p>\n

Houston ding-dong ditch shooting <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

An 11-year-old boy was shot and killed while playing a ding-dong ditch game in a Houston neighborhood over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Police say the boy was with two other kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A neighbor saw them running away from the home, when someone inside the home came out with a handgun and fired down the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 11-year-old was struck in the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shooter has been detained.<\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

No charges have been filed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Likely be a murder charge’ <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Houston police continue to investigate Saturday’s deadly shooting, while neighbors question why there was a shooting.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s that serious to shoot somebody from knocking on your door,” a neighbor said.<\/p>\n

“After you opened the door, what made you shoot? Especially after seeing the kid? I don’t understand that one,” said another neighbor.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Houston ding-dong ditch shooting <\/p>\n

One member of Houston law enforcement doesn’t believe this is a case of justified force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“In my opinion, it doesn\u2019t look like any type of self-defense. It wasn\u2019t close to the house, so it\u2019ll more than likely be a murder charge,” said Houston PD Sgt. Michael Cass.<\/p>\n

A North Texas attorney agrees.<\/p>\n

“The Houston case, just because there weren\u2019t charges at the time, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean there wouldn\u2019t subsequently be charges,” said Rusell Wilson.<\/p>\n

Wilson, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, is not connected to this case. Here’s what he says investigators will debate regarding the shooter\u2019s actions:<\/p>\n

“What you\u2019re looking at is it is objectively reasonable to be in fear of death or serious bodily injury. Now, obviously, if you\u2019re at home, there\u2019s a presumption in your favor, but it\u2019s not automatic,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n

North Texas ding-dong ditch shooting \"\" <\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

On July 28, a Frisco man, 58-year-old Damon Wolfe, allegedly shot at teenagers ding-dong ditching his home following a TikTok challenge, according to police. Wolfe is charged with three counts of aggravated assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ding-dong ditching can be classified as a low-level trespassing crime, according to Wilson.<\/p>\n

“But just because you have that doesn\u2019t again rise to the level of deadly force. You can certainly tell them to get off your property. You can call the police.”<\/p>\n

The Source:<\/b> Information in this story came from FOX 26 Houston interviews with residents and law enforcement, and previous FOX 4 coverage.<\/p>\n

Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Houston<\/a>Frisco<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON – An 11-year-old in Houston is dead after reportedly being shot by a homeowner while playing a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[7583,6082,13448,4345,50,358,3187,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-192841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-collin-county","9":"tag-crime-publicsafety","10":"tag-frisco","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115132021160309043","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}