An 84-year-old White man from Kansas City was charged with two crimes after he shot a Black youngster who rang his doorbell after going to the incorrect house to pick up his brothers. The boy had been waiting for him to answer the door.
Andrew D. Lester was charged with felony assault and armed criminal action, each of which carries a potential life sentence if found guilty, and the authorities issued an arrest order for him. Late on Thursday, Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice by Lester, once in the head. This is according to the Clay County prosecutor’s office.
Prosecutor Zachary Thompson stated that “there was a racial component to this case,” but he did not elaborate.
No one is holding Lester. According to the criminal complaint, he admitted to police that “it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was’scared to death'” due to the teenager’s stature, his own age, and his incapacity to protect himself.
Ralph Yarl Charged with shooting a Black kid in Kansas City is an 84-year-old White guy
Lester was accused of acting inappropriately because “he believed he was protecting himself from a physical confrontation and could not take the chance of the male coming in,” according to the complaint. He continuously expressed compassion for the victim although he was “clearly upset.”
According to Ralph Yarl family’s solicitors, Ralph Yarl rang Lester’s doorbell thinking it was the house where his younger siblings were visiting a friend while he was recuperating from his wounds at home. The teenager’s parents had instructed him to pick up his siblings at a home on 115th Terrace, but he went to a home on 115th Street instead, which was a block away.
When Ralph Yarl arrived to take his siblings home, he was shot at. Before passing out at the end of one family’s driveway, the wounded adolescent asked for assistance from his neighbours.
Hundreds of demonstrators descended on the residence where Ralph Yarl was shot on Sunday evening, and further demonstrations are scheduled for Tuesday as a result of the incident, which has attracted national attention.
The White House reported that President Biden talked with Ralph Yarl on the phone on Monday and expressed his wish for a quick recovery. In a tweet, Vice President Harris stated, “Let’s be clear: No child should ever live in fear of being shot for ringing the wrong doorbell.”
Having sustained a gunshot wound to the head in 2011, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was injured in a shooting in 2011, wrote on Twitter, “I am heartbroken.”
The incident may rekindle national discussions over “stand your ground” legislation, which have gained traction in discussions about gun violence, personal safety, and racial profiling. This is especially true in the wake of the 2012 shooting death of Black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Yarl “is alive and recovering” at home despite having terrible injuries, according to civil rights lawyers Lee Merritt and Ben Crump, who are representing Ralph Yarl and his family. According to the statement, Ralph Yarl was “shot twice and struck in the head and arm by an unidentified white male assailant,” it was added that he was unarmed.
The adolescent reported ringing the doorbell, waiting for three to five minutes in stillness, and then witnessing the door open, according to Merritt, who claimed that police had accepted that statement. Then he observed a guy emerge. According to the teen’s memory, the homeowner allegedly made a comment about not wanting the child “to come around anymore” before firing on the youngster’s face from behind a screen door.
Under the circumstances, Merritt asserted, “There is no justification for that.”
The prosecutor countered that there was no proof that Ralph Yarl and Lester had spoken before the shooting.
Lester had just gotten into bed when he heard the doorbell and got out of bed, according to the criminal complaint. Both an inside and an exterior storm door are present in his home. When he opened the internal door, he noticed a Black guy who seemed to be “6 feet tall” pushing on the closed storm door.
Lester claimed to have fired from his Smith & Wesson out of fear that someone was attempting to break into his home.Within seconds of opening the door, a 32-caliber revolver was drawn.
In his testimony to police, Ralph Yarl said that he did not knock on the door and was shot right away.
Zach Dovel, 20, who lives across the street from the suspected shooter, claimed that he and his mother were enjoying a podcast on Thursday night when they heard a youngster knocking on the door and claiming to have been shot.
He said they didn’t immediately open the door after dialling 911 because they weren’t sure if he was the shooter or the victim. Ralph Yarl proceeded to descend the steps before passing out and leaving a bloody trail at the end of their driveway.
They hurried to help at that time, Dovel claimed, bringing towels to staunch the blood and trying to keep him talking and aware. Dovel added that Ralph Yarl informed them that he was a clarinet player and a junior at Staley High School. Rapidly arriving police and an ambulance transported Ralph Yarl to the hospital.
The distance from our door to the street was somewhat bloody. “It was awful,” stated Dovel. Right in front of our mailbox, he was bleeding out.
Dovel said that Ralph Yarl seemed to have two bullet wounds.
The “stand your ground” and “castle doctrine” laws of Missouri do not mandate that people flee when they feel a threat. However, unless there is “a reasonable fear of deadly force or assault,” individuals cannot act in self-defense, according to Kansas City lawyer Kevin Jamison, who has successfully represented clients.
Missouri homeowners are allowed to use lethal force in self-defense at home if they have a legitimate fear of “unlawful force,” which is not explicitly defined by the law.
However, Jamison argued that just knocking on a door or ringing a doorbell would not be sufficient justification for using lethal force.
Professor Daniel Webster at the Centre for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy at Johns Hopkins University stated, “You have to do more than simply say, “I felt frightened,” you have to establish that anything threatening was happening.
Webster noted that while the “stand your ground” area of law is complex, it is also surrounded by a society that is pro-guns and a firearms business that sensationalises self-defense.
“People are thinking about predatory acts of crime that threaten one’s safety and property when they think about self-defense,” he added. But rules are applied to a far wider range of intricate human relationships, and because to this law, occasionally individuals figuratively get away with murder.
Sunday in Kansas City saw a demonstration in response to the news of Yarl’s shooting. According to local public radio station KCUR, hundreds of people, including family members of Ralph Yarl, marched to the house where Yarl was discovered in the city’s Northland neighbourhood. More protests were planned as many called for tougher measures to be implemented against the alleged shooter.
On Monday afternoon, nobody opened the door. Graffiti covered one side of the tiny cream home, and the front window had raw eggs all over it. A sign reading “This property is protected by surveillance cameras” was posted on a backyard fence.
A basketball hoop was visible in the backyard and kids’ bikes were seen in the yard of Ralph Yarl family house, which was only a few blocks away.
Because Ralph Yarl parents are fellow Liberian immigrants who frequently visited her restaurant for spicy cassava leaf stew and other Liberian specialties, Fannie Gibson, the proprietor of Fannie’s West African Cuisine in Kansas City, claimed to know Yarl and his family.
“We all know Ralph,” she remarked. He is a courteous young man who constantly reads and doesn’t annoy anyone.
The small, tight-knit Liberian community has been deeply struck by the news of Ralph Yarl shooting, she claimed.
“I have a 15-year-old kid, so when I learned about it, I cried all day. My son may have been that, Gibson said.
Yarl is “an excellent student and talented musician,” according to North Kansas City Schools Superintendent Dan Clemens, thus the school district was “devastated” to learn of her shooting. “I know that many of you share the same anger, frustration, shock, and disbelief that I am experiencing right now,” he wrote. “We need to give the investigation enough time to be finished,”
Yarl plays in the Staley High School band with a 15-year-old student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for her safety. She characterised Ralph Yarl as “shy, studious, and funny once he opened up.”
He’s a really good guy all around, the classmate remarked. Educators adore him. The pupils adore him. All people adore Ralph.
When she expressed her fear of learning to drive in her first year, he consoled her. She is now concerned about how he will handle his injuries.
Ralph has become a household name, so many people are worried about him right now, she added. “Ralph wouldn’t want that,” I said. He is a very modest man. He must feel quite uncomfortable with all the attention.
Celebrities and politicians have called for action in response to the teen’s shooting, which has garnered national attention.
Actress Halle Berry tweeted, “[M]y heart totally crushed when I learnt this lovely 16-year-old was shot in the head… by a man who didn’t want him on his land. He unintentionally rang the door of the incorrect location in an attempt to pick up his brothers.
His name is #RalphYarl and I’m sick and tired of this feeling…my heart completely broke when I learned this precious 16-year-old, who accidentally rang the door of the wrong address in an attempt to pick up his siblings, was shot in the head… (1/3) pic.twitter.com/4VaZo7EFVE
— Halle Berry (@halleberry) April 17, 2023
Online rumours abounded that Ralph Yarl ethnicity could have been a factor in the shooting, which occurred as America continued to address its long history of violence against Black people.
Chinese American state representative Michelle Au (D) of Georgia stated on Facebook, “I have sent my 17 year-old son to go pick up one of his siblings from a friend’s house.” He performs well in a juvenile orchestra, like Ralph. He is a science student, much like Ralph. He has lofty goals much like Ralph. My son could be shot for ringing the incorrect person’s doorbell, but I’m not sure.
As of early Monday evening, Faith Spoonmore, who claimed to be Ralph Yarl aunt, had gathered more than $1.8 million through a GoFundMe.
Also Read : A black Ralph Yarl teenager who went to the wrong house and was shot by an 84-year-old is charged
Spoonmore called Ralph Yarl “a fantastic kid” who is enthusiastic about music and academics in the fundraising. Yarl, according to her, wished to study chemical engineering at Texas A&M University and visit West Africa in the future.
“Today, life appears quite different. Despite his good physical health, he still has a long way to go in terms of his mind and emotions. Spoonmore stated of Ralph Yarl , “The trauma he has to suffer and survive is unthinkable. He is a miracle for us. Unfortunately, the majority of black males are not still living to have another chance, despite the numerous times we have heard stories of this nature.