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Man Charged for Shooting Black Teen Ralph Yarl at Front Door

by Joshua Brown
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In Kansas City, Missouri, an 84-year-old white man was accused of first-degree assault on Monday. This happened after he shot a Black teenager who was trying to pick up his younger brothers from the wrong house.

At a news conference, the Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said that there might be something related to race when Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl twice last Thursday night. However, he clarified that nothing from the charging documents indicated that it was racially motivated. He also said, “The criminal justice system is working and will keep working.”

The shooting of Yarl made many people in Kansas City and the whole country angry. The President, Joe Biden, plus other important figures called for justice. Some people highlighted the racial aspect of this case as well.

Yarl was an outstanding student and a member in an all-state music band. He had a plan to pick up his two little brothers at night, but he accidentally went to the wrong house. During that time, Lester fired him twice – once on his forehead and another one time on his right arm.

Before the shooting, there were no words exchanged between them. After the shooting, Yarl got up to run and heard Lester shout, “Don’t come around here!” Yarl had to seek help from many people before he found one who would call the police.

Reverend Vernon Howard, the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Kansas City, called the shooting a really bad and hateful act. Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter that no child should ever have to be afraid of getting shot because they rang someone’s wrong doorbell. On Monday, the Missouri Senate did a moment of silence for Yarl as an act of respect.

Yarl’s lawyers, Ben Crump and Lee Merritt, said that Joe Biden had called Yarl’s family to offer his condolences and prayers. The lawyers also said in a statement that “gun violence against unarmed Black people needs to end”. They also added that “our children should feel safe, not like they are being chased”. On Tuesday night, folks will be attending a rally in Kansas City to support Yarl.

Lester was given a serious charge called ‘assault’, which could lead to life in prison. He was also accused of ‘armed criminal action’ that means three to fifteen years in jail if found guilty. Fortunately, he was not charged with the hate crime. Missouri’s law regards assault as a less major felony thus providing Lester with less severe punishment than what could have been.

Missouri belongs to around 30 states with “Stand Your Ground” rules, which permit the use of deadly force for defending yourself. But the officer said this shooting wasn’t done in self-defense. A legal document was issued as punishment, but Lester hadn’t been caught yet, according to Thompson.

Lester told the police that he lives alone. He said he was in bed when his doorbell rang, so he picked up his gun and went to see what it was. At the door, Lester saw a Black man pulling on the handle, which made him think someone was trying to break into his house. We don’t know if Lester had a lawyer to represent him or not because we couldn’t reach him on Monday night.

Yarl, a resident from a middle class neighborhood in north Kansas City, didn’t have a phone with him and he accidentally went to the wrong block. In response to this, his aunt started a GoFundMe page to try and help pay for medical bills and by Monday afternoon it had been donated $1.4 million. The Police Chief stated that Yarl’s parents asked him to pick up his brothers from a house located on 115th Terrace but unfortunately he ended up going to 115th Street instead.

Yarl is a really talented young musician who plays the bass clarinet. He was even noticed by the Missouri State Band, and plays several instruments in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of Kansas City! The North Kansas City School District said Yarl is an awesome student with amazing skills. Unfortunately, he had been through some hard stuff recently, but he’s doing okay now.

By Monday afternoon, the place where the shooting happened had been destroyed. Someone painted a large heart with the number ’16’ in the middle on one side and eggs were thrown at the windows and door of the house.

No one answered when someone tried to ask for a comment from Governor Mike Parson about this incident – he is known for being an advocate of gun rights.

Ben Crump, a lawyer who has worked on cases of African Americans getting shot to death (for example Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd), was confused why the person responsible for the shooting was not arrested right away. He said that if it were an African American who shot a 16-year-old for ringing their doorbell in the same scenario, they would surely be taken into custody.

Two days after someone got shot, a woman of 20 years old was killed by the homeowner in New York. The Sheriff said Kaylin Gillis and her three companions were on their way to a friend’s house but they took the wrong address, so while they were trying to turn from that place, the homeowner Kevin Monahan came out and fired two shots with one of them hitting Gillis. He was then charged with second-degree murder.

Salter told us the news from O’Fallon, Missouri. Nick Ingram in Kansas City and Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri joined him to share the information.

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