Black Homeowner Charged with Murder after Mistaking White TikTok Pranker for Robber | WATCH
*There is an ongoing social media challenge involving ringing doorbells and fleeing before the homeowner can answer. It’s called the “ding dong ditch” prank.
It is popular on TikTok, but it’s good to remember that it also comes with certain risks during filming, as a recent incident shows.
The cautionary story adds to one more TikTok prank gone wrong. In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, an 18-year-old Michael Bosworth Jr. was shot and killed while taking part in a “ding dong ditch” prank with other kids at 3 AM on May 3.
He was shot by the homeowner, one Tyler Chase Butler, 27, who insists he mistook the kids for robbers. Butler’s has been charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding, and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The kids were recording videos of their nighttime mischief for TikTok as they rang doors in the neighborhood. But when they got to Butler’s door, the prank soon became a tragedy. Butler fired his weapon, believing they were intending to break into his home.
A bullet caught Bosworth in the torso. He later succumbed to the injury at Mary Washington Hospital. Another of the pranksters sustained minor injuries, while the third got away unscathed.
Bosworth’s classmates held a vigil, releasing balloons in his memory. His girlfriend, Malinda Garcia, turned up at their senior prom wearing his pink bow tie around her wrist. The whole community is still grieving this tragedy.
But this incident has brought back to memory the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager in Kansas City, Missouri. Ralph Yarl was shot twice by an 84-year-old white homeowner, Andrew Lester, after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell while attempting to pick up his siblings.
While in the case of Butler the wheel of justice has rolled quite fast, in Ralph Yarl’s case the shooter was only charged after Social media exploded with demands for justice for him, with even celebrities speaking out in outrage.
@mckennastulz Is this how we ding dong ditch in 2024? #teensoftiktok #fyp #uticamichigan #macombmichigan #shelbytownship #washingtontownship #macombcounty ♬ Come Check This (Quickie Edit) – FETISH
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