A California man accused of killing three 16-year-olds by ramming them with his vehicle after they played a doorbell prank in 2020 was convicted of murder on Friday.
Authorities said Anurag Chandra fled after intentionally ramming his car into a Toyota Prius with six teenagers inside, causing it to crash into a tree. Three of the teens died and the others were injured.
A jury found him guilty 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. I thank the jury for their verdict. This is an important step toward justice,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement.
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Ding-dong ditch ends in tragedy
On Jan. 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 Prius.
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.
Chandra said he was ‘extremely mad,’ had been drinking
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 said he didn’t stop after the collision because he didn’t realize 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.
An attorney representing Chandra did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY on Saturday.
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Boys were goofy, ‘relished living,’ family members said
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.
“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.
Contributing: Joel Shannon and Ryan Miller, USA TODAY
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