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Following public pressure and widespread outcry, Clay County police in Kansas City finally identified the 84-year-old white homeowner believed to have shot African American teenager Ralph Yarl last Thursday.
US media reports say Yarl’s parents had sent him to fetch his younger siblings but he mistakenly arrived at the wrong address.
He was meant to pick up his 11-year-old twin brothers from a friend’s home on 115th Terrace, but he went to a residence on 115th Street, a block away.
That little error proved almost fatal for young Yarl when homeowner Andrew D. Lester fired shots at the teen without asking any questions. Yarl was shot twice. One of the gunshots hit Yarl in the head, near his eye socket, and the other in his upper arm.
The wounded teen sought help from Lester’s neighbours before collapsing on one of the family’s driveways.
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It’s understood Yarl is recovering from his wounds after undergoing surgery on Sunday. The young athlete and clarinet player from Staley High School reportedly also received a telephone call from US President Joe Biden. Biden said he hoped Yarl would make a swift recovery.
The boy’s aunt, Faith Spoonmoore, said on a GoFundMe campaign that her nephew was a gifted student who dreamed of studying chemical engineering.
According to AFP, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a Sunday night press conference that the information at the time “does not say that it’s racially motivated; that’s still an active investigation”.
“But as a chief of police, I recognise this case’s racial components. I do recognise and understand the community’s concern.”
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The New York Times reports Clay County’s prosecuting attorney’s office and officials have charged Lester with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.
The prosecutor, Zachary Thompson, echoed the same widely held sentiment: “There was a racial component to the case.”
Thompson said while it was unclear if Yarl rang the doorbell or knocked on the door, he did not “cross the threshold” into the home and that shots were fired through a glass door from a .32-caliber handgun.
Lester was in police custody for 24 hours before he was released without charges on Friday.
Thompson said that a warrant of arrest had been issued for Lester, and bail had been set at $200 000.
The Yarl family has since sought legal counsel from civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt.
Merrit revealed to The Washington Post that police had taken Yarl’s statement, in which he described ringing the doorbell and waiting in silence for between three to five minutes before watching the interior door open.
According to Yarl, the old man said something about “not wanting him to come around anymore”, before the gunfire began.
The criminal complaint reportedly states that Lester had just turned in for the night when he heard the doorbell and went to the door. When the 84-year-old opened the interior door, he saw a black male he perceived as ‘six-feet-tall’ pulling on the exterior storm door, which was locked at the time.
He told police he feared someone was trying to break into his home and opened fire.
But Yarl’s statement paints a different picture. The teen says he did not pull on the door and was immediately shot.
The shooting has reignited anger over gun violence in America, particularly the brutality against unarmed black people.
Several celebrities have joined calls for police to arrest Lester and for justice to be delivered.
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