A high school student is dead and two others are injured after a prank turned deadly. In a Facebook post, Virginia’s Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office said they’d arrested Tyler Chase Butler for second degree murder, malicious wounding, and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
The arrest came three days after officers responded to a reported burglary in progress, where a resident had fired shots. When deputies arrived, they found that two individuals had been shot. A third person, a minor whose name won’t be released, was unharmed.
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Following the incident, 18-year-old Michael Bosworth, succumbed to his injures at a local hospital. The second person injured, who was a juvenile, was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital.
After his release from the hospital, the injured teen told police that they weren’t breaking into Butler’s house when he fired shots, the local NBC affiliate reported.
Instead, the teen said they were recording ding-dong ditch pranks for TikTok videos, according to the outlet. The prank involves ringing someone’s doorbell and running away before they can answer.
The uninjured teen backed up their friend’s account. The juvenile also offered their phone to show a similar video shot earlier that night, the outlet reported.
The local Fox affiliate spoke to neighbors that claimed to have heard eight gunshots go off during the incident.
Friends and Family Remember Michael Bosworth After Prank Turns Deadly
Bosworth’s stepfather told the first outlet that the teen, who was a senior at Massaponax High School, played lacrosse and football, and wrestled.
The outlet further reported that Bosworth, who was set to graduate later this month, was killed the same day as his high school’s prom.
“[Bosworth] wasn’t ever scared to show how he felt about things. He was a very passionate person about stuff,” Khamoni Keys, a former teammate of the late teen, told the local ABC affiliate. “It’s sad he had to go the way he did, but I know his family won’t be by themselves. We will all be there for them, as well.”
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