At least 20 firearms, including several AR-style rifles, have been seized by police from the home of a Texas man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy who banged on his door and ran as part of a prank, according to newly filed court records.
The suspect, 42-year-old Gonzalo Leon Jr., was ordered during a hearing on Wednesday to be held on $1 million bond.
Judge Emily Detoto of the 177th District Court in Houston said during the hearing that she set a high bond due to the possibility that more serious charges could be brought against Leon, including capital murder.
“Firearms and the use of firearms is not the answer. Whether you’re on the freeway getting cut off or you’re in your neighborhood angry at a group of kids, you can’t utilize a gun, period,” Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told reporters after Wednesday’s court hearing.
The shooting erupted around 11 p.m. on Saturday in a southeast Houston neighborhood when the victim, 11-year-old Julian Guzman, and his cousin banged on his door as part of a prank known as “ding dong ditch,” according to the criminal complaint.
A makeshift memorial near the scene of a fatal shooting of a boy in Houston, Texas, August 30, 2025, that police alleged stemmed from a door-knock prank, contains a photo of the victim, 11-year-old Julian Guzman.
KTRK
The prank is similar to a “door-kicking challenge” trending on social media sites, including TikTok, in which groups of kids record videos of themselves kicking and banging on doors of homes and apartments before running away and then posting the videos on social media platforms such as TikTok.
Julian’s cousin, who was not identified in court records, told investigators that he and Julian had been at a birthday party in the neighborhood when they “became bored and wanted to ring doorbells, or play ‘ding dong ditch,'” according to the complaint.
The cousin told investigators that he and Julian both went up to Leon’s blue house, knocked on the door and ran, according to the complaint. The cousin told investigators that the sound of a gunshot “caused him to look back at the house they were running from, where he saw a person, who he described as wearing all black, extend his arm and shoot one more time,” according to the complaint.
Booking photo of Gonzalo Leon Jr.
Houston Police Department
The cousin said he saw Julian collapse to the ground, “asking for help, believing his legs were paralyzed,” the court papers said. The cousin said that as he screamed for help, he observed the shooter “slowly walk back to the blue house.”
Julian was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Sunday afternoon. An autopsy found the boy, a middle school student, died from a gunshot wound to the back, according to the complaint.
Leon, who lives at the home with his wife and their young child, was detained for questioning in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and released. Once the case was elevated to a homicide, Leon was detained again as a suspect on Sunday evening by a SWAT team at a hotel outside of Houston, where he and his family went as the police investigation unfolded.
Leon declined to speak to police and requested an attorney, according to the criminal complaint.
The suspect was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday.
Police served a search warrant on Leon’s home and seized 20 firearms, including four or five AR-style rifles and a shotgun, from “a small closet on the left side of the residence right next to the front door as well as a pistol that was alleged to belong to the Defendant’s wife,” according to the criminal complaint.
“The Castle Doctrine does not apply to this case in any way, shape, or form,” Teare told ABC Houston affiliate station KTRK in an interview, referring to a Texas law that provides protection to citizens who use lethal force to defend themselves against intruders into their own homes. “We have an 11-year-old little boy who was running away and was shot in the back. This was an intentional and knowing murder.”
During Wednesday’s court hearing, prosecutors requested the high bond for Leon, alleging he is a flight risk because he and his family left their home with a large amount of clothes following the shooting and were detained at a motel in La Porte, about 25 miles from Houston.
But Leon’s court-appointed attorney, Gianpaolo Macerola, told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that Leon and his family went to the motel to avoid the media gathering outside their home.
“I know that he’s innocent until proven guilty based on the Constitution,” Macerola said.
