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Daily Mail
13-08-2025
- Daily Mail
My son, 27, shot and killed a TikTok prankster, 18, during a twisted stunt. But it was NOT murder
The father of man who shot a TikTok prankster dead during a nighttime 'ding dong ditch' stunt insists his jailed son is innocent of second-degree murder and that the shooting was in self-defense. Tyler Butler, 27, shot at three teenagers outside his family's six-bedroom home on a quiet cul-de-sac in Fredricksburg, Virginia, around 3am on Saturday, May 3. Described as a 'good kid,' he was charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding and possessing a firearm while under a protective order. He has yet to enter a plea and remains in custody without bond. Michael Alan Bosworth Jr., 18, was fatally wounded in the back close to his spine hours before he was due to attend his school prom. Authorities say a second victim, a 17-year-old male, was shot through his backpack which caused him to be grazed. The third teen, Braylon Richards, 18, was not injured. The tragedy is said to be connected to a nationwide spread of a twisted viral social media stunt, which has teenagers banging and kicking on doors at homes to gain online notoriety. The two surviving friends told investigators they were videoing themselves for a TikTok prank and are now facing misdemeanor trespassing charges. The 17-year-old, a minor, reportedly admitted they were playing 'ding dong ditch' in the neighborhood but denied they were attempting to break into homes. The other friend told authorities the trio was leaving the rear of the Butler home via a side gate and were fleeing at the time shots were fired. According to the Fredricksburg Free Lance Star, the criminal complaint states Butler fired at the group after seeing them leave his backyard. He told police he feared for his life after seeing one teen reach toward his bag. The filing also details that Butler's position at the time of the shooting and the trajectory of the shots indicated that the teens was 'some distance' away from his family's property. Police wrote that he fired at least 10 shots before returning to his house and stated that it was 'lucky I don't smoke one of you ... .' Attorneys for Butler contend he went outside with a weapon to protect himself and his mother after hearing a disturbance and that he feared for his life and fired in self-defense. The sides and rear of the tidy property are surrounded by a six-foot-high white vinyl fence. Father-of-eight Jeffrey Butler, 62, claimed to the Daily Mail that his son fired a 9mm handgun in self defense - while fearing for his life - and alleged the three teens had refused to leave. He added that his son and wife of 30 years, Carmela, 54, had been asleep then 'brutally awakened by the kicking and banging' when they heard loud noises coming from the rear of the home and their six-year-old Pittbull, Chase, began barking. Jeffrey, who was at work at the time, said a sheriff's deputy responded on scene after Carmela called 911 and spoke with her at the front door for 'several minutes' as she described the loud noises, which she believed included possible gunfire. He added that the trooper, flashlight in hand, told her to call again if there was a further disturbance and left - but without inspecting the exterior of the property. A few minutes later, claimed Jeffery, the two occupants again heard loud noises from the rear of the property, and suspected there were burglars attempting to break into the basement. When the deputy left, 'these guys were (still) on our property,' alleged Jeffrey. 'Had he gone into the backyard he would have got all three individuals back there.' He added that the disturbance resumed after the deputy left. Butler and his mother 'believed someone was trying to break into the basement,' claimed Jeffrey, who added that his son was 'praying for his life and protecting his mom. 'I taught my kids to protect the house when I'm not home.' Jeffrey confirmed the narrative of defense attorneys in court proceedings that Butler ventured out on the front porch - armed with his handgun - and the three intruders emerged from the rear of the property. According to Jeffrey, the teenagers 'faced off' with Butler, who felt 'threatened and intimidated.' Words were exchanged, he added, and Butler demanded: 'Y'all need to get the hell away from here!' Butler also told investigators it looked like the teen with the backpack was reaching for something, causing him to fire. Jeffrey confirmed defense claims in court proceedings, fearing for his life, Butler fired his weapon in self defense. Despite prosecutors only charging with two teens with misdemeanor trespassing, Jeffrey claimed: 'They were still on our property and then all three of them took off running after shots were fired.' It was a 'scary situation' for his son, Jeffrey claimed, who graduated from Massaponax High School in 2016, the same school where Bosworth was an enrolled student at the time of this death. 'This was no game that they were playing.' Butler, a volunteer basketball coach, was unemployed at the time of the shooting, having dropped out of computer engineering studies at Virginia State University during COVID. 'My son is good kid,' said Jeffrey. 'He's being treated unjustly. If someone was in your backyard with masks on at 3 a.m kicking and banging on your door to the point where you are scared to death, what would you do?' He lamented: 'It's sad that they're treating him this way. They said he's a danger to society…for what? This wasn't a game. We were targeted. Now they're using my son as a scapegoat.' Authorities have said the three teens were causing a disturbance at other homes in the area and were found nearby following the shooting. Bosworth, a student at Massaponax High School, played lacrosse and football and was also a wrestler. He had been due to attend his school prom later in the day with his girlfriend of three years, Malinda Garcia. The cheerleader posted to her Instagram account that her slain boyfriend was 'by her side' in spirit when she went to the dance without him. 'Nothing can explain the way I feel right now,' she wrote. 'I am at a loss of words and just can't believe this is even real. I feel like I'm living in my worst nightmare and will wake up from a dream.' Police have warned of the dangers following a spike in the disturbing TikTok challenges. In July, two teens aged 14 and 15 were arrested for allegedly kicking in the door of a Maryland home at 3:15am in what authorities believed was connected to the nascent trend. It is believed they had attempted to kick in another door in the same neighborhood. Justin Mulcahy, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police Department, told CBS News it was part of a nationwide TikTok trend. 'It's concerning all the way around,' he told the outlet. 'We believe – based on how this was done – that this was potentially a door-kick challenge that's going on nationally.' Last week, police in Illinois spoke of the immense dangers related to the the pranks after a suspected attempted break-in at a home in Sleepy Hollow, 45 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. A group of youngsters were caught on a Ring camera laughing and running away at 2am. 'You can see kids running up to the house, the noise of them trying to break through my front door, homeowner Anne Ybarra told ABC News. 'This was kids being criminal, Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Sam Parma told the outlet. 'It was not kids being kids.' Jeffrey also stressed that the pranks have real world consequences. 'To all individuals and families that have been adversely impacted by this tragedy, we would not have wished this on anyone and hope that no one would ever have to experience this kind of tragedy ever again,' he said. Butler is in custody at Rappahannock Regional Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month at Spotsylvania County Courthouse when he will be able to enter a plea. His defense attorneys declined to comment to the Daily Mail.
Washington Post
18-06-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Fresh sour cherries are fleeting. Here's how to make the most of them.
Full of flavor, fragile and fleeting, sour cherries are a treasure worth seeking out. According to Tyler Butler, general manager and third-generation farmer at Butler's Orchard in Germantown, 'they're underrated.' However, those in the know 'are just ecstatic over sour cherries.' Also known as tart cherries, the fruit is more acidic than the more commonly available sweet cherries. They're also smaller in size and 'they have a thinner, softer skin and the inside is much softer,' according to Anastasia Zolotarev, author of the recently published 'Sour Cherries and Sunflowers' cookbook. They're also juicier. 'If you were to cook them, they're going to produce like five times more juice than a [sweet] cherry,' Zolotarev said. There are two major classifications of tart cherries: amarelle and morello. The most popular variety is Montmorency, which is under the amarelle umbrella and is the kind Butler grows at his farm. 'It's got a red skin with a yellow flesh,' Butler said. (Morellos have a darker skin with a red flesh and are more commonly found in Europe.) The balance of sweet and tart can vary among varieties and even time of year, according to Zolotarev. 'If it's late summer, they are a bit sweeter,' she said. 'If it's the beginning, they're much more tart.' Part of the verve surrounding fresh sour cherries is their scarcity. 'The problem with sour cherries is either you have a lot of cherries or you have no cherries,' Butler said. That's because the trees need a cold winter and a frost-free spring to keep from killing the blossoms. 'As soon as it gets cold, we have customers emailing us like, 'Did they survive?'' Butler was worried this year about the frost his trees experienced, but thankfully, they went unharmed and Butler's Orchard ended up having a good crop. Here's what you need to know about making the most of these seasonal gems. Since the fruit doesn't ripen once picked, you want to wait until it's at its peak. 'If you wait too long, the insects will come in and the rot will come in, so you have a short window to really harvest,' Butler said. His farm opened to the public for sour cherry picking on June 13, and in the past, people have lined up at the gates in anticipation. (The start of sour cherry season may be later in other parts of the country.) 'When I was a kid, we were selling out of cherries in two days, three days,' he said. But he expects the current harvest to last a week to 10 days. 'What also makes them special is that when it happens, it happens and you've got to make it count.' Zolotarev has fond memories of picking sour cherries from the trees in the backyard of her babushka's house in Belarus. 'Stepping onto the ladder and slowly picking them and then coming home and pitting them and eating some, cooking some,' she recalled. 'Just that simple act is something that I've always loved.' Whether you're picking your own or buying fresh tart cherries from a farmers market, Butler suggests 'looking for cherries that have stems on. That's going to keep them a little fresher, because once you pick and just pull, you have an open wound, so now your clock is ticking.' Once picked, they don't keep long or ship well, which is why it's almost impossible to find the fresh fruit in grocery stores. 'If they sit overnight in a bucket or anything, they'll start to lose their juice, so it's good to either use them as soon as you possibly can or freeze them,' Zolotarev said. (You can also store them in the refrigerator — unwashed until you're ready to eat them — where they can last for up to five days, according to Butler.) Before using fresh sour cherries, as with all cherries, it's important to pit them first lest you risk someone chipping a tooth. Compared to pitting the sweet variety, 'they are easier because they're softer, yet trickier because juice goes everywhere,' Zolotarev said. An easy way to remove the pit is to simply push it out with your finger, but you can use whatever method or tool you like best. (If you're unable to get your hands on fresh sour cherries, you can also find them frozen, jarred, canned, dried and as juice.) While their tartness might be pungent to some, others love eating them unadulterated. 'We freeze them, and I've got a 5- and 8-year-old and they're just popping them in their mouth like it's dessert,' Butler said. More often, you'll find them cooked, to mellow their tartness, or paired with a sweetener of some sort to balance their sour flavor. You can usually find them in desserts, such as the Sour Cherry Crumb Bars pictured above. In the United States, the most common use for sour cherries is baked into a pie, such as our Sour Cherry Lattice Pie, which allows for their singular flavor to truly shine. (They're also referred to as pie cherries.) The dried fruit is a great option too, such as folded into Salted Chocolate Chip and Sour Cherry Cookies. Another option is to turn the fruit into preserves to spread on toast, spoon on ice cream or serve on a spoon with coffee, as they do in some Eastern European cultures. When looking for savory inspiration, sour cherries are very popular in many Eastern European and Persian cuisines, but can be found elsewhere, too. One option is Halushky With Sour Cherries, which pairs the Ukrainian dumplings with a sour cherry sauce to serve as a sweet-tart side alongside meat or other vegetable dishes. There's also albaloo polo, a Persian rice dish with tart cherries that is usually served with some sort of meat. Both sour cherry juice and the dried fruit are used in Meatballs in Sour Cherry Sauce (Kabab Karaz), a Syrian dish. For more inspiration, Zolotarev said the cherries go 'really beautifully with poultry and earthy flavors.' She mentioned a recipe for duck stuffed with buckwheat and served with a spiced sour cherry sauce. The fruit is just as versatile in drink form. Of course, you can simply buy the bottled juice from the grocery store. Another option is to make a kompot, as it's referred to in Eastern Europe, in which you briefly simmer the fruit, lightly sweeten it, and then strain it into jars to store in the fridge. Or try visinata, a traditional Romanian liqueur made by combing the fruit with sugar and alcohol and letting it macerate for anywhere from several weeks to a few months. With sour cherries, you can let your creativity run wild. But Zolotarev offered one piece of advice: 'They are definitely really tart, so just adjust the sugar to your liking.'
International Business Times
08-05-2025
- International Business Times
Virginia Teen Shot Dead in Ding Dong Ditch Prank Gone Wrong After Homeowner Mistook Him for Intruder
A northern Virginia man is now facing multiple charges after he allegedly shot and killed a high school student who mistook him for an intruder trying to break into his house. A friend of the teen claims it was all part of a TikTok challenge that took a turn for the worse. Tyler Butler, 27, is charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Butler is accused of shooting at three teenagers who were behind his Fredericksburg home. The deadly shooting happened around 3 a.m. on Saturday, May 3. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office says the teens were attempting to burglarize the Butlers' house when 18-year-old Massaponax High School senior Michael Bosworth was shot and killed. One of the two juveniles with him was shot and wounded. They told investigators they were recording themselves doing a "ding-dong ditch" as part of a TikTok challenge. The prank involves knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell of an unsuspecting resident and fleeing from the spot before they can answer the door. One of Butler's neighbors who spoke with FOX 5 said his home surveillance system captured video of three teens coming up to his house not long before the shooting. The video showed the teens banging, kicking and slamming on the neighbor's garage door — not just ringing the doorbell. Bosworth's classmates held a vigil in his honor as part of their senior sunset celebration at school Tuesday night. Those who knew him are still trying to make sense of his death. Butler is being held without bond in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. His next court date is scheduled for June 18.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Teen shot, killed by Virginia homeowner was reportedly doing TikTok challenge
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways The Brief An 18-year-old was shot and killed by a homeowner in Spotsylvania County over the weekend. The homeowner believed the teen and two others were attempting to break into his home. One of the boys who was also shot at by the man said they were recording themselves doing a TikTok 'Ding-dong Ditch' challenge. SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. - A northern Virginia man is now facing multiple charges after investigators say he shot and killed a high school student who he believed was trying to break into his house. A friend of the teen claims it was all part of a TikTok challenge that turned tragic. Tyler Butler, 27, is charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He's accused of shooting at three teenagers who were behind the home he shares with his parents and brother on McKenzie Lane in Fredericksburg. Most of the relevant court documents in this case are sealed, so it's not exactly clear what led to these charges being filed at this time. READ MORE: Homeowner arrested for murder in high school student's death during alleged break-in The backstory The deadly shooting happened around 3 a.m. on Saturday, May 3. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office says the teens were attempting to burglarize the Butlers' house when 18-year-old Massaponax High School senior Michael Bosworth was shot and killed. One of the two juveniles with him was shot and wounded. They told investigators they were recording themselves doing a "ding-dong ditch" as part of a TikTok challenge. One of Butler's neighbors who spoke with FOX 5 said his home surveillance system captured video of three teens coming up to his house not long before the shooting. The video showed the teens banging, kicking and slamming on the neighbor's garage door — not just ringing the doorbell. What they're saying Another one of Butler's longtime neighbors says she's devastated by what's happened. "It's very sad. Very sad. This is truly on everybody's part. Like the poor child, the poor kid that got killed and, of course, what happened to him. I mean such a stupid prank and look at the results. Families ruined. So, very sad. I hope this does not happen again and I hope the kids learn a lesson," Josephine Dellamonica said. Bosworth's classmates held a vigil in his honor as part of their senior sunset celebration at school Tuesday night. Those who knew him are still trying to make sense of his death. "I do feel as if it's brought us, like, more close together, because I would say our counselors have been doing such a fantastic job, you know, reaching out to everybody. Our principal, Dr. Lancaster [has done] a phenomenal job as well. I couldn't be more thankful for the supporting cast at Massaponax, you know," senior Khamoni Keys told FOX 5. READ MORE:18-year-old shot, killed by Spotsylvania County homeowner while reportedly trying to break-in What we know In court documents, Butler reports being single, having gone to college to study computer science and now making his living through sports betting. He's being held without bond in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. His next court date is June 18. Butler's family, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's and Commonwealth's Attorney's Offices all declined to comment Wednesday. The Source The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office, FOX 5 DC's Bob Barnard.
