Boy, 11, shot dead after playing doorbell-ringing prank in Houston, police say
Boy, 11, shot dead after playing doorbell-ringing prank in Houston, police say
Ding dong ditch used to be a staple of kiddie pranks... for fuck's sake! Do none of these idiots have any real threat assessment? Or are they so desperate to shoot someone that they just wanna blast some kid and say they feared for their lives?
None whatsoever. They're bloodthirsty savages. Itching for any excuse to murder someone.
I give it 2 weeks before the shooter is being interviewed on Fox. Whinging about how he's really the victim of some nebulous "woke mob" that drug him online for murdering a child.
Do none of these idiots have any real threat assessment?
More that they've got a house full of guns, an ear full of "crime wave!!!" media, and a not insignificant amount of mental illness.
"If someone rings my doorbell and runs away, they're targeting my house for a burglary" is a thing lots of people unironically believe.
Or are they so desperate to shoot someone that they just wanna blast some kid and say they feared for their lives?
Definitely elements of that, too. But in the sense of feeling like they want to be the hero of a story they've heard on Talk Radio.
A lot of these people are legit delusional.
“If someone rings my doorbell and runs away, they’re targeting my house for a burglary” is a thing lots of people unironically believe.
God help me, I'm going to lose it with the next idiot that I hear this shit from. My parents constantly regurgitate simulacrums of that line. Somehow we've moved on foolish grans mass spamming the emails about people putting tags on your car at the gas station to follow you home... but it's 'moved on' to the insidious new middle-aged twats on facebook losing their minds about shit like kids being kidnapped from their school by secret russian/chinese/iranian/democrat black-ops teams.
"If someone rings my doorbell and runs away, they're targeting my house for a burglary" is a thing lots of people unironically believe.
Is this really a commonly held belief? The fuck? Makes no goddamn sense whatsoever.
As someone raised by conservatives, it's #2. They fantasize about being in a scenario where they have to defend their home with a gun. It's a core component of being a conservative.
I think they are just stupid, scared people who watch Fox 24/7 and really think bad things are happening everywhere. Or to put it more succinctly, they are little bitches.
Or are they so desperate to shoot someone that they just wanna blast some kid and say they feared for their lives?
It is exactly this. These are deeply violent people who are actively seeking any reason to hide behind the excuse of self defense.
There is something ingrained in certain people I'm finding. I'm a big dude who can handle himself if need be, but I also have guns cause the state does too. Moved from a more liberal area to this purple pearl in a very red area. Had a girl over one night and heard some rustling outside the door. I put on pants and went to go check it out and she asked me why I wasn't bringing my gun. Jackie, my sister in Christ, we are outside the downtown area of a fairly safe little tourist trap. At the absolute worst it could be is a small black bear that I just scream at. But I'm not going to jail for firing a gun near downtown(although that doesn't tend to stop anyone else around here).
Or are they so desperate to shoot someone that they just wanna blast some kid and say they feared for their lives?
Too many people are kept in check by fear of getting caught by the law and will turn into savage beasts at the slightest opportunity.
could you imagine the danger they were in by a 10 year old ringing a doorbell?? NO YOU CAN'T!
At 11PM?
Who cares? They rang the doorbell and ran.
Bro I used to be out doing shit on the streets at sleepovers at like 3-4 am. 11 is not the justification that you think it is.
11 PM? So what? Is that when 'the purge' starts in that nasty rat hole state or what?
Well maybe not for an 11 y/o, but sure, high school boys are rarely any more grown up.
I used to knock doors back in the 1990s raising money for Jump Rope for Heart. Not once did I have to worry about being shot. And that was in Texas! Also in 1999 I was a door to door sales man for Orange Solve. Again never had an issue For fuck sakes my grandfather sold life insurance door to door. We used to have door sales man and not mention religious people who would go door to door. Not once did you hear stories like this.
I blame fox news. They have made these people so fucking scared. Life was more dangerous back in the 70's-80's for a kid.
Guess that's what they want to go back to. I hope this man gets life in prison. Goddammit I am sick tired of these fucks ruining and destroying our world. Fucking piss baby.
Removed by Moderator — Modlog
That's scary and so fucking crazy. We can't fix these people. We need to one cut off Fox News and any right wing media, then we need to pump billions into education.
We also need to lock all these people up in institutions until we can deprogram them.
Should have called the cops and said they were brandishing.
What state was this?
In Louisiana in the early 90s a Japanese foreign exchange student was shot during a Halloween party when he accidentally knocked on the wrong house in costume. When he walked away, the home owner came out with a revolver and yelled 'freeze'. He didn't understand what that meant since his English was poor and he walked towards them and was then shot. He probably also thought that he DID go to the right house and as it was Halloween it was probably a gag.
The home owner was acquitted, but it caused an international incident.
My mother told me about an incident where a ethnic Chinese man (or woman? can't remember what I heard) in the US was going through the trash looking for those bottles/cans that you can sell for money (you know those that says 5 cent / 10 cent if recycled?), so there was a kid in the house who their parents left alone at home armed with a fucking gun and he started shouting at the man to leave, but he didn't understand English, so the kid shot and killed the man, claiming to "feel threatened". The shooter being a kid means there were no charges.
That conversation basically set the atmosphere (as in, the mental picture that I have) of what America was like. Its probably one of the reasons why I (as someone who is also ethnically Chinese) have this self-imposed restriction of never going to a republican area or any racially homogenous areas (particularly those all white suburbs / rural places)
I never looked it up, but let me know if you found an article that matchs what I was told.
Never heard of this. Of course I was kin the early 90's.
I hope they'll lock up all of fox news, oann, etc as well as these lying fucks are the reason for people's minds being so fucked up
I canvassed door-to-door in Ohio in the mid-80s for a public interest org and I also never feared for my life. Although one time I had knocked on one door and was actually leaving the property when the homeowner opened his door and let his doberman out. This thing barked at me and seemed to be trying to bite me but I was able to keep my clipboard in front of his head. Anybody trying to defend themselves from a dog should try using a clipboard.
However, I'm white. I had a friend from Sri Lanka who was working the same job and his experience was a bit different. One time he was walking down a road and heard a noise behind him, turned around and saw a car approaching him with a guy sticking out of the passenger window holding a baseball bat.
Holy shit that crazy. When I did door to door always had an uneventful experience. Even when I canvas here in Oklahoma it was meh. Guess other benefit ot being white.
This is different from just ringing doorbells. The article doesn’t say it and glosses over the fact that this kid was doing it for TikTok. The fuckin stupid ass TiKtOk ChaLLeNgE is to go up and kick the shit out the door as loud as you can, then run away after terrifying whoever is inside.
It’s no excuse to shoot, but it’s not a simple “kid rang the doorbell”
You might have a point if TikTok was a sex trafficking drug cartel or something. Otherwise it's completely irrelevant bit of info. As if kids weren't doing stupid shit like this before.
Adults: "Kids never go outside and have fun anymore."
Also Adults: "If you step on my property I'll kill you."
Those are different adults saying those things. The gun nuts tend to instill irrational fear in their kids that they should never leave the house unless they are prepared for life-and-death warfare. It’s a sad cycle of paranoid abuse :(
Sometimes it's different adults... It's all part of the same incoherent ideology.
Seems to be a common theme in Texas. Maybe this guy moved from Dallas to Houston.
"A child just rang my doorbell. Folks you do NOT ring doorbells in 2023. My 6 was loaded. Keep your kids away. -Chris"
Those words alone should be forfeiting your right to own a firearm.
If you don't want someone to ring your doorbell then why the fuck do you have one? They are usually only secured with two screws. Fuck that guy, he needs to be shot back.
If you remove the doorbell button, it leaves an unsightly hole that faces visitors. Instead, you can remove or deactivate the actual bell part inside your house.
Then, you can put a sign on the door that says not to knock or it will wake the baby, and you may never have to interact with another human ever again.
Good news is that this idiot can no longer threaten kids (or anyone). He was kicked out of the National Weather Association after his asinine posts. He then seemingly died shortly after. I haven't found a cause of death yet.
I haven't found a cause of death yet.
Rang a doorbell.
Oh, at least he'snot out there worried about someone ringing his doorbell now.. Thanks.
Had someone fire a gun at myself and 2 friends for doing this when we were teenagers. No vandalism, no destruction, just knocking on the door (friend happened to bang particularly fast and hard while screaming "Satan Loves You") and hightailing it. I also live in the south, so guns a-blazin', I guess.
I've also been threatened with a gun and other acts of violence for dressing in all black and not believing in some bullshit god. Police have also been called on me for sitting in front of the mall in my trenchcoat while waiting on my ride as a teen. And I've had a cop train a gun on me while my friends and I were goofin' around in their backyard.
The kid was shot in the back You know, cause he was running away and all.
It is wild to me that someone hears their doorbell and their instinct is to grab their gun. I cannot imagine losing your child this way. I know school and mass shootings are awful and kill many more children. The difference is the intent; on some level Americans are aware existing means we could be the victim of gun violence. We do not expect idiots to shoot at us with no intent to go on a killing spree and especially not at our children outside of schools.
I almost don't blame parents for not wanting to let their kids play outside anymore
It is wild to me that someone hears their doorbell and their instinct is to grab their gun
Seriously, my first instinct (like any normal person's) when I hear my doorbell is to pause whatever I'm watching or playing, turn off the speakers, and slowly and silently creep towards the door to peek through the peephole and see if whoever rang without scheduling first has already gone away and I can go back to my normal life.
What am I going to do with a gun, shoot the bastard and cause even more people to come to my door‽
Fox news fucked up this whole generation.
Child homicides and violent crimes are lower now than they were 40 years ago. Around 1992 was when it was the worst in the past 45 years. That's not even per capital either. Just number per year. In 1980 the population was 226 million. Now it's 340 million, so even though there's over 100 million more people, there's still less violent deaths.
Kids are safer. It's just blasted all over the news and internet anytime something fucked up happens.
While that's all true, I think it's a worthwhile exercise to examine if the number of people being shot for ringing a doorbell or turning around in someone's driveway has experienced a statistically significant increase over the number of instances 40 years ago.
It could be argued that the media (and the fascist scum running the country) blasting stories about made-up or exaggerated crime are directly responsible for any increase in insanity by chicken-shit gun-fetishists.
Of course, you'd also need to factor in the reality that 40 years ago, in some areas you could murder someone for ringing your doorbell, and depending on the skin tones involved it might not even be reported.
When little kids can't even play simple pranks in your country without being shot, your country has serious issues that desperately need addressing (but won't because the administration is so corrupt)
There are federal, state, town, and county layers of administration. They're all corrupt. But not the parents.
i mean i've seen signs in austin, on the same lawn, that say "we don't call the police" with a picture of a gun and "ring my door and i'll shoot"
lovely, warm neighborhood...
So doesn't that person have any deliveries or visitors or anything? Imagine ordering a pizza and then being shocked when some anxious guy (anxious because they got tons of deliveries to make on a deadline or be fired) shows up?
i honestly don't know. i was visiting three houses down and asked, they just shrugged and said welcome to texas
I have one of those shootin' people signs on my lawn. One time, I ordered a pizza. When the pizza delivery person showed up, they were acting mighty shady. So I shot them. That bastard may have been trying to case my place. When the beautiful boys in blue showed up. I showed them my badge and all was good.
Keep Austin Weird Psychotic
wtf from the cops
a homicide detective with the Houston Police Department, told KHOU, noting the boy’s death does not appear to involve self-defense because the shooting “wasn’t close to the house.”
Implying that if they rang the doorbell and waited (you know, the entire purpose of a doorbell), it could have been considered self-defense? I know, that’s a bit of logical fallacy but wtf
Everyone is entitled to their day in court. This is a cop doing a good job of cutting out any possibility of bullshit weaseling by pointing out that the possibility of self defense doesn’t even need to be debated or discussed.
It just means they don't even need to consider if it could have been in self defense because it was ruled out at step 1. Not that if it passed step 1 it would be guaranteed that it was.
They just want to head off that entire line of defense from the get go.
could have been
as the other user said, yes, exactly. depending on other factors it could have been
What a shithole country. Total no-go zone.
Are you trying to be ignorant?
Any country that goes through a Sandy-Hook style shooting and doesn't amend their gun control regulations, is a shithole country.
QED.
Are you trying to defend a shithole country where kids get shot for ringing doorbells or going to school?
Trump famously referred to other countries as shithole countries. People often darkly mock him and the us by referring to the us as a shithole country. Not really sure how ignorance plays a role in their comment, but it's possible you're ignorant to that context so just adding that here.
I'm not saying anything whatsoever would warrant this, but were the kids at least, like, throwing eggs? Knocking the mailbox over? To fire a weapon at someone for ringing your bell is just so unhinged that how could he even make it that far?
Simple really. Guns are treated like kids toys in the good ol' USA, and "every single mentally deranged psychopath absolutely HAS to be allowed to own one, 'cause that's the only way to stop fascism" - The National Rifle Association 1871-present
Introducing the new Amazon Ring Defender--the only doorbell with a live video feed and live ammunition! Don't like what you see happening on your doorstep? Now you don't have to be home to defend your castle!
I don't care if the kid threw a brick through my window, murdering a child is completely unforgivable and there is zero justification for it.
Imo, the only time shooting someone is even remotely justified is in the defense of someone's life or as a very last resort when there are no other options.
Yes, of course. I'm certainly glad I never got shot for worse shit, believe me. But shooting someone for ringing your doorbell is about 300 levels up. At least I could imagine getting a warning shot at the sky for smashing a window.
And I'm not implying these kids must have done anything other than ring bells and go laugh as someone opens the door to no one. Kids do both.
He was a kid. Running away.
ahh yes.. time to pay the dead kid tax... we all feel safer though so its totalllly worth all the dead children, right?
At least they have guns so they can resist a hypothetical tyrannical gove-... Never mind.
So safe. This time it was a kid, but next time he might not be so lucky. It could be a delivery driver! The mailman! Someone getting the wrong address! Scary scary times we live in.
A dead kid by lax gun laws is just a necessary evil we have to accept! But heaven forbid they see a nipple, cancel that shit straight away!
"Why don't kids play anymore"
Once saw a mother with kids in her car, drive past another group of kids playing soccer in the street. She's sped past them yelling, "next time I'll just run you idiots over!" (not a busy street at all!) maybe one car every 10 min. Those kids don't play soccer any more.
There was more violent deaths in children in the 70s, 80's, and early 90's, than there is today, even though there's over 100,000,000 more people in the US than there was in 1980. Kids are safer. People like you just think it's worse because now it's blasted all over the news and internet for you to see anytime something like this happens.
While there was more violence and crime then, normal people seem entirely unhinged now. Maybe it’s just the news but back then I would have trusted neighbors and feared crime whereas today the neighbors seem scary (at least in certain parts of the country. That doesn’t generally happen here)
People like you
You know nothing about me.
I'm aware that violent crime against children is down significantly over the last few decades. But have you considered that the same news reporting allowing us to see these stories, also allows parents and children to see them? Could that possibly have an effect on children's behavior? You're ignorant and overconfident. Blocked.
Not only was there more child murder back then, but they were less likely to be solved. Do you remember the whole missing kids on milk cartons? It started when a paperboy was abducted and never seen again. Also whoever did it completely disappeared, too. The police didn't have any leads or suspects.
In the 90s it was the same thing. You know the Amber alert? It was named after a girl who was kidnapped and murdered. Her killer was never found. Not a single suspect interrogated, either. Some DNA did surface in 2022 or so, but that didn't lead to any suspects either.
Three teenagers rang his door as a prank, and his response is to get in his car, follow them, and then mow them down? Totally reasonable. He was clearly just defending himself. 🙄
There are people that seriously argue that it should be legal to chase down someone who has wronged you in some way and take out any form of revenge you wish against them.
Not that this is an excuse but I'm going to make the assumption that he was addicted to being kept in a perpetual state of fear by fox news etc.
Some teenagers mistakenly banged on the back door of the wrong house near me and the home owner chased them down and fired on their car when they were trying to get away. The kids ran into the woods and the car went missing for a few hours. The home owner was a cop, so anyone paying attention was suspicious where the car went. The whole incident was sweep under the rug, so I assume that either the chief didn't let them plant evidence or there was nothing in the evidence locker to plant.
As far as internet pranks go, it doesn't get much more benign than ding dong ditch
I live just outside of Houston, and I've had kids play ding-dong ditch at my house, and honestly it's fucking creepy. It wouldn't bother me during the daytime, when people are around and there are often children playing on my street. But it only happens late at night, when my two little kids are in bed. I check outside and they're gone. My street is well-lit, but I never see them running away. There's a green space nearby that they must be running to, but there's nothing to hide behind there.
Anyway, it's creepy as fuck. I really hate it. If I caught the kid in the act, I'd probably get real serious at him and try to get him to stop. But I'd never point a gun at him. I hope he trips while he's running and busts up his teeth, but I don't want him to die.
The murderer here is completely unhinged.
You could always respond like a normal human being and get a doorbell cam. You can at least see what is going on and maybe go talk to their parents (if you didn’t live in a dystopia where people think it’s ok to just start blasting)
Especially creepy if they're kicking your door in the middle of the night.
I had this happen to us as well, but we put a sign on the door with a please don't ring the door bell, baby is sleeping and it never happened again.
For some reason this also stop solicitors.
I hope he trips while he’s running and busts up his teeth, but I don’t want him to die.
You hope a child is seriously disfigured and has to endure painful reconstruction and likely very expensive dental bills for... checks notes... annoying you? I mean, at least you don't wish death up on him for playing the prank that nearly every child ever has played. Just serious injury, which is totally OK.
That's obviously hyperbole for "I want them to face some consequences for their actions after alarming me in my home in the middle of the night for their own enjoyment."
We can’t all lead a blameless thought life like yourself but I’m sure we’re all hoping you can teach us a few things.
Imagine you hear someone trying to kick down your door in the middle of the night. Is this...annoying? Or terrifying?
I can't imagine living my life so on edge or angry that the door bell ringing would make me shoot someone.
Seriously. I’ll go to bed and leave the door unlocked, go for a run and leave it open so I don’t have to take keys.
Walk home through sketchy areas in the early hours of the morning and live in Manchester a pretty large city.
Twice in 42 years have I had someone try and attack me for no reason. Never had someone break into my house. Heck I went to work one day and left the keys on the lock outside and still nothing.
I'm very very glad I grew up in basically a 90's teen drama town, where most people probably didn't even own hunting rifles, or one newer than 100 years old. I mean, I'm not glad for other reasons, but right now I am.
Cop speak is always so frustratingly literal. They refer to the victim as "the male". He's 11. call him a kid and have some empathy
Sounds like texas needs a taste of the national guard.
Why is this article not framed as if this was a crime? They never mentioned the shooter or his consequences. It's not illegal to ring a door bell.
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.
It happened on Sunday; that's all the consequences that have happened thusfar. There will likely be a trial, but the justice system moves a lot more slowly than it would have to for there to be anything more than that yet.
Fair enough.
This just in: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/us/houston-ding-dong-ditch-shooting-arrest
He's been charged with murder
Oh but gun control laws are not needed are they America? But an old irrelevant document from 150 years ago says otherwise so clearly the matter is closed.
But they need them for when the fascist government takes over! Oh, right, all the 2A people are on that side...
Actually, the document doesn't really say that, it's just that we love murdering children so much, that we pretend that is what it says.
Even the "old west" had gun control.
Try 234 years for 2nd Amendment...
I can't imagine this happening in the Netherlands... Wtf...
It absolutely does happen here. Like this one for example: guy chases young girl with an axe after messing with his doorbell.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2438126-man-wordt-boos-om-belletje-trekken-en-verwondt-man-met-bijl
Don’t mess with the wrong people. You never know what’s going to push them over the edge.
Ja, Limburg. Vandaar. ;)
Edit: the axeguy was stopped by visitors of a local bar while pursuing the little girl. Noone got seriously injured and the unhinged moron was left in police custody.
Now, in the US these kind of stories have a different ending. In the US this guy would've shot the girl and rampaged through that bar.
That girl would have 100% been shot and killed if this happened in America.
Well, shit...
...or really anywhere in the civilised world
Too many nutjob AmeriKans with guns. If US authorities used the same firearm laws in Europe, over half of the potential gun owners would fail.
Ooooo boy, prison loves them a child killer.
Black?
Hispanic judging from the name.
They have guns and the death penalty but somehow, they can't put together that one leads to the other. It's like the only thing that matters over there is the profit from selling the equipment.
No. The sensational back and forth on the "will they / won't they" every time something happens drives hella clicks.
Shoot at the problem then deal with the consequences later, it's the American way
Some of these wackos dream of someone trespassing so they can finally shoot someone, but I’m sure their dream doesn’t include the trespasser being armed too.
This is why I’m glad in Canada guns have to be stored locked.
Not everyone does this, but you have to go through training and and there are serious consequences if you don’t.
If you did this here you would be charged with murder and improper storage of a weapon.
That really wouldn't matter. The guy would have just grabbed the gun out of storage and used it. It's not he wouldn't have the key/combination to his own gun storage.
... By which time the kid may have been gone, or at least far enough away that he would have been hard to hit.
Or, you know, this violent, impulsive sack of shit may have had 10 extra seconds to think about what he was doing and be like "oh yeah, I don't want to go to prison".
If you can go and unlock your gun, load it, get to the door, and shoot this kid then you’ve confirmed to every jury in the country that you murdered them.
When school shootings arent enough
Even if he had stood his ground he wouldn't be let off
See, the problem was that the kid didn't have their own gun to shoot back.
ARM OUR KIDS!
Even in the 2000s people would call the cops saying there was a robbery when they got dinged. We were like fucken 11 and a police helicopter came overhead it was fucken insane.
Stay classy, h-town.
There’s always someone way crazier than you think, right in your own neighbourhood. And you never know what tiny thing will push them over the edge to do something like that.
So yeah, parents really need to teach their kids not to do annoying things like that. It can get them seriously hurt - or worse - messing with the wrong people. Us adults know that, children need to be taught that.
I know what you are saying, and i agree, except i don't think the root of the problem is addressed. Those crazy people shouldn't have access to guns.
Removed by Moderator — Modlog
Yeah, that 11 year old totally deserved to die for ringing someone's doorbell and running away. You're right that the only thing wrong with the story is that the grieving parents know what happened to their child.
I'm glad that the community that's mourning a child is now going to have fewer kids playing mostly harmless pranks.
I can't tell if you're genuinely that awful a human being or if I've just taken the bait.
oh the parents are definitely supposed to know; thats how negative feedback works. raise kid that pranks the neighbors; kid gets pwned. the kid was shot because the kid pranked the neighbor and, had they not, they would be alive. it wouldn't work if the parents didnt know what happened. im just saying the guy played it too loose with the police
Holy fucking shit take batman
Ha, no more stupid pranks in Houston!
Ah yes, superb firearm ownership; shooting at kids running away from you.
The only way to stop a bad kid from ringing doorbells is a good guy with a gun.
That kid was no angel.
I'm sure I missed some right-wing thought-stopping platitudes, I may be back later with more wisdom.
Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this right after it happened??!?! Give the dead child's family some time! Now is not the time for gun control arguments it's the time to come together and support the victims, especially the man who shot the child, nobody thinks of their suffering!
I’m so extremely pathetic that I feared for my life because of a fleeing child!
You forgot: The death penalty will deter others
The running away part adds a bonus felony in Texas in addition to the reckless discharge and I'm guessing murder II maybe negligent homicide.
On NextDoor somebody posted a link to this story and the comments were all "see? Kids shouldn't be ringing doorbells and running away like this." Maybe the real lesson is "don't shoot kids in the fucking back"?