As Ralph Yarl struggles to come to grips with being shot after going to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, the white Kansas City, Missouri homeowner who shot the Black 16-year-old is facing his day in court. An attorney for the Yarl family says the case should qualify as a hate crime and that Yarl was armed only with his “Black skin.” Eighty-four-year-old Andrew Lester has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He posted bond Tuesday and was released. Yarl is at home recovering. Supporters gathered at a rally Tuesday night. Yarl’s mother said he is doing “considerably well,” but “mostly he just sits there and stares and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes.”
As Ralph Yarl struggled to come to grips with being shot after going to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, the white Kansas City, Missouri, homeowner who shot the Black teenager turned himself in and was released on bond Tuesday.
Andrew Lester, 84, surrendered at the Clay County Detention Center a day after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He posted bond Tuesday afternoon. Some civil rights leaders urged a hate crime charge, but Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime with a longer sentence — up to life in prison.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Yarl family, said the case should qualify as a hate crime.
“Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin,” he said.
As Yarl recovered from his wounds, supporters, civil rights leaders and politicians rallied in downtown Kansas City to call for justice for the 16-year-old and a stronger effort to improve racial relations in Missouri and the U.S.
Speakers urged the crowd to support Yarl, to fight for justice and to remove politicians who pass discriminatory laws and support gun rights.
Many carried signs saying, “He is only 16,” and “Is this what Kansas City has come to? Stop gun violence.”
Merritt said the family is also angry that police held Lester for only two hours after the shooting, when they legally could have held him for 24.
“If they would have held him for 24 hours, they would have held him long enough to get the statement from the kid with a bullet in his brain,” Merritt said. “They got the statement the very next day.”
During an interview Tuesday with “CBS Mornings,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, said her son is in good spirits but that the trauma remains evident.
