Police say the 17-year-old is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the late-October shooting of a DoorDash driver.
MESQUITE, Texas — A 17-year-old was arrested after detectives said his own 911 call conflicted with other accounts of an Oct. 27 shooting that seriously injured a DoorDash driver outside a home on Birch Bend. The teen was taken into custody Monday after a SWAT entry at a nearby address, and investigators say he is the suspected gunman.
Police and court records indicate the case turned when detectives compared statements from the wounded driver, people at the delivery address and 911 recordings made minutes after the gunfire. The review identified the caller as the same teen now accused of opening fire. Authorities say the teen, identified as Ledavion Sockwell, faces an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge. The driver, Manuel Gonzalez, 29, survived multiple gunshot wounds and has been recovering at home after a long hospital stay. The arrest came roughly four weeks after the shooting, at a moment when pressure to explain the conflicting versions was mounting.
Shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 27, Gonzalez was delivering food to the 2000 block of Birch Bend when, he told investigators, the order’s recipients could not provide the required pin code to complete the handoff. The exchange grew tense. After the correct code was finally given, Gonzalez said two men emerged from inside, one with a handgun and shoulder-length braids. Gonzalez told police he retrieved his own firearm from his vehicle but kept it pointed down by his legs. He said the armed man fired first, striking him in the arm, and he returned a single shot before his weapon malfunctioned. “They gave me the wrong pin, wrong pin twice,” Gonzalez later said, explaining why he refused to surrender the food without the code.
Detectives said multiple interviews over the past month exposed gaps between what witnesses in the home reported and what Gonzalez described. According to an arrest affidavit, the teenager initially told officers that an unknown male began shooting and that he ran inside for safety. But on the 911 recording made in the same time frame, a caller authorities linked to the teen told an operator that the delivery driver “pulled a gun,” that “he started shooting and got shot,” and framed the episode as self-defense. Investigators said the phrasing undercut claims that an outside assailant was to blame. Combined with physical evidence and the driver’s repeated account, the recording narrowed the suspect pool to the teen who lived at the address, according to police.
Mesquite’s tactical unit forced entry Monday afternoon at a residence in the 1400 block of Regent St., where police say the teen lived with his mother. Officers arrested him without incident and prepared to transfer him to the Dallas County jail. Booking information lists an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon count and a bond set at $150,000. Detectives have not announced additional charges. Officials said they are still testing ballistics from shell casings recovered at the scene and reviewing digital evidence tied to calls and messages sent around the time of the delivery. It remains unknown how many rounds were fired by each person, beyond Gonzalez’s statement that his gun jammed after one shot.
Gonzalez was struck multiple times in the arms, legs and torso, and a bullet clipped his chin, according to his family. He spent nearly a month in the hospital before returning home last week. “Ten seconds later, everything happened,” he said of the moment after the correct pin was provided and voices rose inside the house. Gonzalez told relatives he used his phone’s voice assistant to call 911 while bleeding, and neighbors later described hearing screams for help. His wife, Patricia Garcia, said the family of five is focused on his rehabilitation as he begins what doctors warned could be a year of recovery. A DoorDash spokesperson said the company is cooperating with police and is relieved the driver is recovering.
The shooting has stirred debate among gig drivers about pin codes and safety checks, which platforms use to prevent theft and verify deliveries. In Mesquite, police say they have handled scattered disputes over delivery handoffs but rarely shootings tied to a code. Public records show officers were called to the Birch Bend address at least once in the past year for a noise complaint unrelated to this case, but neighbors said the block is often quiet after dark. In Dallas County, aggravated assault cases with firearms have trended upward over the past several years, mirroring regional patterns, though most involve people known to each other rather than strangers meeting during a transaction.
Prosecutors will review the case file once detectives finish processing evidence and transcripts of emergency calls. If the teen is certified to stand trial as an adult for the violent-felony charge, the case would proceed in a Dallas County district court; otherwise, it would remain in juvenile court. A defense attorney was not immediately listed in court records. Police said they expect to submit the investigation to the district attorney within days. Any grand jury review, if required, would likely follow in the coming weeks. No court date was listed as of Wednesday.
By late Wednesday, the teen remained in custody and Gonzalez continued outpatient treatment at home. Police say they plan an update once lab work and the full 911 audio review are complete, expected after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Author note: Last updated November 26, 2025.