Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old American teenager, was shot in the head and another in the arm Thursday night when he went to pick up his younger siblings and rang the doorbell at the wrong house in Kansas City, Missouri.
Andrew Lester, 84, was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action for shooting Yarl, and a prosecutor in the case argued that there was a “racial component” to his actions, although charging documents do not describe the alleged racial bias or include hate crimes.
“He took a couple of bullets to his body, instead of the twins coming out and hugging him,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, said in an interview with CBS broadcast Tuesday.
Recounting the events on Thursday, Nagbe noted that her son had gone to pick up his siblings from a friend’s house around 10 p.m. local time when she mistakenly knocked on Lester’s door.
The mother related that her son was at home and surrounded by a team of medical professionals.
Present at the Nagbe interview was the family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, who was asked about Lester’s claim that he “feared for his life.“
“When we hear that he feared for his life and we know that he was confronted by a 16-year-old boy ringing his doorbell…it’s unjustifiable to use this level of force,” Merritt responded.
When asked about next steps, Merritt said the family will speak with prosecutors this Tuesday to ask why attempted murder has not been included among the charges.
Nagbe recounted that his son had a pleasant phone conversation Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Wrong street
Family members said Yarl mistakenly went to 115th Street instead of 115 Terrace, and rang the doorbell twice.
After being shot, he drove by three houses before someone helped him, they added.
According to local media reports, Lester told police he thought someone was breaking into his home and fired two shots from behind his door.
A witness said he heard Yarl “screaming that he had been shot.“
No words were exchanged before the homeowner opened fire with a .32-caliber revolver, prosecutors said.
Police initially detained Lester for questioning and let him go, prompting protests in Kansas City on Sunday.
But he surrendered to authorities Tuesday and will remain in the Clay County Detention Center until arraignment or until he posts bond, the sheriff’s office told the BBC.
Celebrities including Viola Davis, Justin Timberlake, Halle Berry and Kerry Washington, as well as Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, condemned the attack.
A GoFundMe account set up to pay for his medical recovery had raised more than US$2.7 million as of Tuesday.
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