'Door Kick Challenge' and the death of Julian Guzman

2025

An aggressive variant of ding-dong ditch spread from 2025 into 2026, in which participants violently kicked strangers' front doors late at night and filmed the reaction, often sounding to residents like a home invasion. Arrests followed in Florida, Tennessee, California and Pennsylvania. In Houston, 11-year-old Julian Guzman was shot and killed while running from a door he had knocked on, and a 42-year-old man was charged with murder. Police repeatedly warned that residents may respond to a perceived break-in with lethal force.