A Virginia man has been charged with second diploma homicide after fatally capturing a teen who was filming a prank for TikTok often called “ding dong ditch” with two mates round 3 a.m. on Saturday, based on court docket data and native authorities.
The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Workplace responded to a reportof a resident firing photographs throughout a housebreaking, and located two youngsters with gunshot wounds, the workplace stated in a press release. One of many youngsters, Michael Bosworth Jr., 18, later died of his wounds. The second individual was handled for minor accidents, and a 3rd individual within the group was unhurt, the sheriff’s workplace stated. The 2 mates with Mr. Bosworth have been each beneath 18.
The youngsters had been within the neighborhood to make a TikTok video, one among them instructed investigators in an affidavit filed in Spotsylvania Circuit Courtroom. A “ding dong ditch” prank includes ringing doorbells or knocking on the entrance doorways of homes earlier than working away, and has turn out to be standard fodder for social media movies.
“The juvenile suggested it’s one thing that individuals are doing to placed on TikTok,” the affidavit stated.
The group had knocked on a couple of doorways within the space, one of many youngsters instructed a detective, including that they weren’t accustomed to the neighborhood. They have been working away from a residence after they have been shot, based on the affidavit. No less than one video exhibiting the youngsters doing the prank was nonetheless on one of many mates’ telephones, the affidavit stated.
The authorities arrested Tyler Chase Butler, 27, of Spotsylvania County, on Tuesday on expenses of second diploma homicide, malicious wounding and use of a firearm within the fee of a felony, the sheriff’s workplace stated. He was being held at Rappahannock Regional Jail on no bond, it stated.
Mr. Bosworth was a senior at Massaponax Excessive Faculty in Fredericksburg, Va. The highschool, which was set to carry its commencement for seniors on Might 13, despatched a message to the varsity neighborhood that counselors can be out there to assist grieving college students.
A spokesman for the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Workplace, reached by telephone, declined to remark additional. A lawyer for Mr. Butler didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. G. Ryan Mehaffey, the Commonwealth’s Legal professional for Spotsylvania County, declined to remark however stated a preliminary listening to had been scheduled for June 18.
This fashion of prank has led to tragedy prior to now. In 2020, a person in California crashed right into a automobile of six youngsters, killing three of them, after they performed the same prank on him. He was sentenced to life in jail in 2023.
On Tuesday, a gaggle of scholars gathered on the soccer subject at Massaponax Excessive Faculty to recollect their classmate, based on a video shared by an Instagram account run by college students from the varsity. They shared reminiscences about Mr. Bosworth and wrote messages on balloons earlier than releasing them at sundown.
Jonathan Wolfe and Michael Levenson contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.
