Kansas City man charged in shooting of Black teen at his front door

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An 85-year-old white man who shot a Black teen at his front door in Kansas City, Missouri, last week has been charged with armed assault, the Clay County prosecutor said Monday.

Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said at a news conference that Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who is recovering at home after being released from the hospital on Sunday.

When asked if anything was said that made Thompson believe that the case was racially motivated, Thompson said nothing like that is indicated in charging documents.

“We understand how frustrating this has been but I can assure the criminal justice system is working and will continue to work,” Thompson said at a news conference.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot in the head in Kansas City, Mo., after showing up at the wrong house to pick up one of his siblings, lawyers for his family said. He is alive but has a long recovery ahead, they said.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves spoke to the media with… pic.twitter.com/lkD5CHqztn

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 17, 2023

Yarl was supposed to pick up his two younger brothers last week when he approached the wrong house. Lester came to the door and shot Yarl in the head — then shot him again.

Community leaders and an attorney for Yarl’s family are demanding justice for the Black teen, who is recovering at home after being released from the hospital on Sunday, and they are questioning whether race played a role in the shooting.

The shooter was taken into custody Thursday but released the next day after consultation with the prosecutor’s office, Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a news conference on Sunday. The firearm used was found at the home, she said.

Rev. Vernon Howard, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City, said in a statement Monday that the homeowner should immediately be arrested for what he called a “heinous and hate-filled crime.”

The Missouri Senate held a moment of silence for Yarl on Monday. “We pray for justice,” Democratic Sen. Lauren Arthur said.

The shooting happened Thursday night in a middle class neighborhood in north Kansas City. Yarl was sent to pick up his twin younger brothers. He didn’t have a phone with him and went to the wrong block, his aunt, Faith Spoonmore, wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay medical bills. By Monday afternoon, $1.4 million had been raised.

Graves said that Yarl’s parents asked him to pick up his brothers at a home on 115th Terrace, but he mistakenly went to 115th Street, the Kansas City Star reported.

Spoonmore wrote that Yarl pulled into the driveway and rang the doorbell.

“The man in the home opened the door, looked my nephew in the eye, and shot him in the head,” Spoonmore wrote. When Yarl fell to the ground, “the man shot him again.”

Attorney Ben Crump says the racial dynamics in the shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City are “inescapable”:

“If the roles were reversed, and you had a Black man shoot a 16-year-old white child for simply ringing his doorbell ... how much outrage would there be in America?” pic.twitter.com/G1WKqIxsu8

— The Recount (@therecount) April 17, 2023

Police have not identified the shooter or his race, though Crump said the family provided information indicating he was white. He did not elaborate. Information that officials have now does not point to race as a factor in the shooting, according to Graves, but that remains under investigation.

By Monday afternoon, the home where the shooting happened had been vandalized. Black spray-paint on the side of the house showed a heart with “16” in the middle. Another showed what appeared to be Yarl’s initials with “16” below the letters. Eggs splattered the front windows and the door.

The shooting has caught the attention of national figures.

“Let’s be for justice, which is a continuum,” Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote on Twiter. “That means the man who did this should be charged AND we need to work for the legislative and heart change to prevent these tragedies.”

“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,” actress Halle Berry tweeted.

Graves said investigators will consider whether the suspect was protected by “Stand Your Ground” laws, which allow for the use of deadly force in self-defense. Missouri is among around 30 states with such laws.

“These laws breed a society of violence and fear while providing cover for those who harm, maim and kill others,” state Rep. Marlene Terry, a St. Louis Democrat who chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, said in a statement.

Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade said Missouri’s lenient gun laws have created an us-versus-them mentality and “too often, Black lives suffer the most from this fear-driven, shoot-first culture.”

A message seeking comment from Republican Gov. Mike Parson, a staunch gun rights supporters, wasn’t immediately returned.

Because of the teen’s injuries, Graves said, police haven’t been able to get a victim statement. Crump, who has represented families in several high-profile cases, including those of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, called it “asinine” that charges have to wait for an interview with Yarl.

“We all believe that if the roles were reversed and this was a Black citizen who shot a 16-year-old for merely ringing his doorbell, they would have arrested him, and he wouldn’t have slept in his bed that night,” Crump said.

Prosecutions of shootings cases in which the defendants claimed self-defense have seen mixed results.

Martin was walking home from a convenience store in February 2012 in Sanford, Florida, when he was killed by George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense and was later acquitted during a jury trial. Martin’s death helped lead to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In Michigan, Ted Wafer is serving a 17-year prison sentence in the 2013 death of Renisha McBride in suburban Detroit. The 19-year-old Black woman was on the porch of Wafer’s home when he shot her. Wafer is white. Prosecutors speculated that McBride, who was drunk and had crashed her car hours earlier, might have been confused when she arrived on Wafer’s porch.