Indian-Origin Man Found Guilty Of Killing US Teens Who Played Doorbell Prank On Him

In a shocking case, a California man was found guilty of murder on Friday after being accused of killing three 16-year-olds by ramming their vehicle in 2020 after they played a doorbell prank on him.

ANI

Anurag Chandra convicted

Authorities said Anurag Chandra, a man of Indian-origin, fled after intentionally ramming his car into a Toyota Prius with six teenagers inside, causing it to crash into a tree. Three of the teenage boys died and the others were injured.

The boys died when they were struck by a car driven by Anurag Chandra, and the vehicle they were in careened off the roadway and into a pole in Riverside County, authorities said.

A jury convicted Chandra, 45, on Friday of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. ¡°The murder of these young men was a horrendous and senseless tragedy for our community," Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement Friday. "This is an important step toward justice."

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What happened on Jan 19, 2020

On January 19, 2020, the teens were having a sleepover when one of them was dared to either jump into a pool or do a "doorbell ditch," investigators said. They drove to a nearby house, where one of the boys rang Chandra's doorbell and ran back to the awaiting car.

Chandra, officials said, chased after them in his Infinity Q50. He rammed them and they crashed into a tree in Temescal Valley, about 60 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Daniel Hawkins of Corona, Drake Ruiz of Corona, and Jacob Ivascu of Riverside, all 16, were killed. Sergio Campusano, 18 at the time, was driving the Prius. He and then-13-year-olds Joshua Hawkins and Joshua Ivascu survived the crash.

Campusano told NBC Los Angeles that one of the boys rang the man's doorbell and ran back to their awaiting vehicle as part of a prank known as doorbell ditch or ding-dong ditch.

AP

What convict said during the trial

Chandra testified during his trial that one of the teens rang the doorbell and exposed his buttocks. Chandra said he was "extremely, extremely mad" and had drunk 12 beers in the hours beforehand, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

He said he didn't plan to hurt the teenagers and didn't stop after the collision because he didn't realise anyone was hurt, though he admitted to driving 99 miles per hour. Records showed Chandra was already facing charges for alleged battery on a cohabitant and child endangerment at the time.

Family described the boys as fun-loving, goofy

Family members described the boys as fun-loving, goofy and full of life in the wake of the murders. Church leaders said they were among a tight-knit group of teens who participated in a youth group in the community.

AP

"They relished living ... life itself was celebratory," Craig Hawkins, the father of Daniel and Joshua Hawkins, told USA TODAY in 2020.

Craig Hawkins said they were excited about having an impromptu sleepover, and planned on eating junk food and playing video games. They were just playing ding-dong ditch, "didn't we all do that?" Craig Hawkins said.

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