{"id":116065,"date":"2026-01-08T22:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/116065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T22:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:21:10","slug":"houston-ding-dong-ditch-shooting-judge-denies-suspects-bond-reduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/116065\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston &#8216;ding-dong ditch&#8217; shooting: Judge denies suspect&#8217;s bond reduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Houston &#8211; A Harris County judge on Thursday denied a request to lower the bond for Gonzalo Leon Jr., the 42-year-old man accused of fatally shooting an 11-year-old boy following a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/search?q=ding%20dong%20ditch&amp;sort=relevance&amp;page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;ding-dong ditch&#8221;<\/a> prank last August.<\/p>\n<p>   Houston \u2018ding-dong ditch\u2019 shooting <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/julian-and-leon.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Leon Jr. is accused of fatally shooting 11-year-old Julian Guzman outside his east Harris County home.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Authorities say Guzman and his cousin were playing &#8220;ding-dong-ditch&#8221; after a family birthday. They allegedly knocked on Leon&#8217;s door and ran away multiple times.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">On the last attempt, investigators say Leon came from behind a gate and fired two shots: one into the ground, and another that struck Guzman.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Guzman was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died the next day.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/qs15r0u0q8opulq0.jpg\" alt=\"Houston 'ding dong ditch' shooting: Allegations against suspect\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>   Latest court appearance <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Leon appeared in the 177th District Court with a noticeably different appearance than his previous hearings, having grown out his hair while in custody.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">His defense team argued for his bond to be reduced from $1.3 million to $500,000, painting a picture of a man whose life has been &#8220;uprooted&#8221; since the incident.<\/p>\n<p> The Defense\u2019s Case <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Defense attorney Gianpaolo Macerola and his team pleaded for leniency, emphasizing Leon&#8217;s background: Leon is a disabled veteran who served in combat. Before his arrest, he was working as a manager at a local taquer\u00eda.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The defense stated that Leon\u2019s wife and children had been severely impacted financially and were forced to move out of their home. Attorneys argued that Leon has zero likelihood of re-offending if released.<\/p>\n<p> The Prosecution\u2019s Stand <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The other side:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Prosecutors remained firm on the high bond, focusing on the brutal nature of the crime\u2014the death of 11-year-old Julian Guzman. The victim&#8217;s family was present in the courtroom today but reportedly left the room as soon as Leon was brought in.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Judge Emily DeToto ultimately denied the reduction, pointing to court documents that indicate Leon was fleeing arrest at the time he was taken into custody. Leon was originally found by a SWAT team at a hotel in La Porte with a packed car shortly after the shooting.<\/p>\n<p> What\u2019s Next? <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">While Leon currently faces charges of Murder, Injury to a Child, and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, the State indicated they may still seek to upgrade the primary charge to Capital Murder given the age of the victim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: FOX 26&#8217;s Sherman Desselle was in the courtroom and spoke with the suspect&#8217;s defense attorneys.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/us\/tx\/houston\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston &#8211; A Harris County judge on Thursday denied a request to lower the bond for Gonzalo Leon&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1046,56,58,57,223,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-116065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}