A Virginia man has been charged with second diploma homicide after fatally capturing a young person who was filming a prank for TikTok generally known as “ding dong ditch” with two mates round 3 a.m. on Saturday, in response to 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 said in a press release. One of many youngsters, Michael Bosworth Jr., 18, later died of his wounds. The second particular person was handled for minor accidents, and a 3rd particular person within the group was unhurt, the sheriff’s workplace stated. The 2 mates with Mr. Bosworth had been each beneath 18.
The youngsters had been within the neighborhood to make a TikTok video, one in every of them advised investigators in an affidavit filed in Spotsylvania Circuit Court docket. A “ding dong ditch” prank entails ringing doorbells or knocking on the entrance doorways of homes earlier than working away, and has change into widespread fodder for social media movies.
“The juvenile suggested it’s one thing that persons are doing to placed on TikTok,” the affidavit stated.
The group had knocked on just a few doorways within the space, one of many youngsters advised a detective, including that they weren’t accustomed to the neighborhood. They had been working away from a residence after they had been shot, in response to the affidavit. At the least one video displaying 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 College in Fredericksburg, Va. The highschool, which was set to carry its commencement for seniors on Might 13, despatched a message to the college group that counselors could be obtainable to assist grieving college students.
A spokesman for the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Workplace, reached by cellphone, 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 type of prank has led to tragedy up to now. In 2020, a person in California crashed right into a automobile of six youngsters, killing three of them, after they played a similar 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 College to recollect their classmate, in response to a video shared by an Instagram account run by college students from the college. They shared recollections 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.
