[masraum]

It finally happened. It's a shame/tragedy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/05/07/virginia-tiktok-prank-student-shot/

A Virginia teen and two friends were pranking strangers’ homes in the middle of the night Saturday, the friends later told a detective, when a resident opened fire, killing the high school senior on the day of his prom.

Michael Bosworth Jr., 18, and two others had been knocking on strangers’ doors around 3 a.m., recording videos of themselves performing “ding dong ditches” for TikTok and were running away from the home to hide when the shooting occurred, a teen later told investigators.

Someone called 911 to report a burglary in progress, authorities later said, summoning Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputies to the quiet, suburban neighborhood near Fredericksburg.

Bosworth was shot in the torso, according to court records, and died at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was days away from his final high school lacrosse game and weeks away from graduating from Massaponax High School.

Spotsylvania County deputies this week arrested Tyler Chase Butler, 27, in the incident on charges of second-degree murder, malicious wounding and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

The sheriff’s office said the person who made the emergency call reported a resident had fired shots after three people tried to kick down a door. Authorities did not publicly identify the caller.

The wounded teen was treated at the hospital and released; the third was unharmed, according to a news release.

The surviving shooting victim told a detective that the group had seen others uploading videos of themselves ringing doorbells then fleeing on TikTok and decided to make their own, court records show. A search of the social media platform reveals a page named “The Ding Dong Ditch Challenge,” featuring a plethora of videos, some of which have garnered millions of views. The detective wrote in court papers that the teen reported the youths already had “hit a couple of doors in the neighborhood” before the shooting.

The detective then interviewed the unharmed teen, court records show, who said he had at least one “ding dong ditch” video on his cellphone. The detective filed a search warrant for the two teens’ iPhones on Monday seeking videos, photographs or any type of communication referencing “ding dong ditch.”

The kids say that they were doing "ding dong ditch" (at 3 am) which normally means ringing the doorbell and then running. The person that called the police said that "a resident had fired shots after three people tried to kick down a door" which is a bit different. It'll be interesting to hear how this turns out.