Gonzalo Leon Jr, Houston, Texas man charged in the shooting death of 11 year old boy, Julian Guzman in ding dong ditch prank gone wrong

Gonzalo Leon Jr., a Houston, Texas man, has been charged with the shooting death of 11-year-old Julian Guzman after a ding dong ditch joke gone awry. 

Gonzalo Leon Jr., 42, was booked into the Harris County Jail on Tuesday in connection with the Saturday night shooting, KPRC reports.

The incident occurred while a group of children were playing the door knock prank, which involves someone ringing a doorbell or knocking hard on a door and then fleeing, at a residence on Houston's Eastside, when the 11-year-old kid was shot. On Tuesday, he was identified as Julian Guzman.

11 year old Houston boy shot dead in door prank gone wrong outcry

‘Officers were told that Guzman was ringing doorbells of homes in the area and running away,’ Houston police said in a news release. ‘A witness stated Guzman was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound.’

The shooting was reported about an hour before midnight. The child was pronounced dead on Sunday at the hospital. The boy had sustained a gunshot wound to the back while fleeing the home.

The district attorney’s office said officers detained one person at the scene for questioning and then released the person. Guzman who was initially released is now scheduled to appear in court later on Tuesday.

Houston police homicide Sgt. Michael Cass said the shooting did not appear to be self-defense because it ‘wasn’t close to the house,’ KHOU reported.

It was revealed in the aftermath that Gonzalo, 42, resides at the same Houston home where Guzman was shot dead.

The boy’s mother Janet Rodriguez condemning her son’s murderer, saying the young boy ‘didn’t hurt anyone’ and ‘didn’t deserve’ to be killed for playing a game.

‘I can’t believe it. It’s a pain I never imagined I’d feel. He was just a child,’ the grieving mother wrote in a tribute translated from Spanish.

Pictured the Houston, Texas residence where 11 year old boy Julian Guzman was shot dead.