BOURNE, Mass. — Bourne police are warning the public about a potentially dangerous social media trend in which several residents’ front doors were violently kicked late at night.
The “Door Kick Challenge,” in which people record themselves kicking people’s doors and running away, has gone viral among teens on TikTok.
At least five Bourne residents have reported their doors were kicked in recent weeks, according to police, with one of them fully busted open.
Two separate households on Tara Terrace told Boston 25 News they were home watching TV when they heard the loud bangs.
“It’s terrifying, I have a four-year-old,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “We thought somebody was trying to break the door in, like, break into the house.”
That resident’s Ring doorbell camera shows two people, one wearing a mask, sneak up to the door, repeatedly kick it and run off, in the late October incident.
About a week later, her husband saw people approaching their door again and ran outside before they could pull off the prank.
Nearby, another couple was watching an action movie when the door was kicked.
“It was that loud. It shook the whole house, and the door was damaged,” said the second neighbor, who also declined to provide her name. “The door was bent when the police came. We couldn’t even open the door for the police to come in.”
Similar pranks have had dangerous consequences across the nation in recent months.
In Frisco, Texas, last summer, a homeowner who was pranked fired shots at a fleeing car full of teenagers, police said.
In Houston, a man was charged with murder after allegedly fatally shooting an 11-year-old boy as he ran from the man’s home following a door-knock prank.
Bourne police warned those considering pulling the prank to think again.
“Our message to you, ‘Don’t...just DON’T,’” police wrote on social media. “Aside from the criminal charges that can result from this, unnecessarily scaring an individual in their home for ‘social media fame’ can have serious, unintended consequences when those present believe their home is being broken into.”
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