Ralph Yarl was going to pick up his younger brothers from a friend's house when he accidentally went to the wrong house and rang the doorbell. The man that lived in the home opened the door and shot Yarl in the head.
Ralph Yarl, the Black high school student who was shot in the head in April after he mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell in Missouri, joined hundreds in a walk for brain injury awareness on Monday.
The 17-year-old and the rest of “Team Ralph” participated in the 36th annual Memorial Day Run to support the Brain Injury Association in what is Yarl’s first outing since his horrific shooting, according to KCTV 5.
“It’s heartwarming to see this kind of support, and I pray that the support is not just for Ralph, I pray the support goes a long way for everybody that’s in this situation—that’s my prayer,” Cleo Nagbe, Yarl’s mother, told KCTV 5.
The teen was going to pick up his younger brothers from a friend's house when he accidentally went to the wrong house and rang the doorbell, his aunt said on his GoFundMe page. The man that lived in the home opened the door, shot Yarl in the head, and then shot him again.
Since the shooting Yarl has been working on recovering and his mother told KCTV 5 that they walk two to three miles every other day. Yarl didn’t speak at the event but his mother said it was still a challenging day for him.
“It was mostly the anxiety for him because socially, it’s still hard for him,” Nagbe told KCTV 5. “I’m glad he was able to overcome this. Ralph is the kind of person who will do something, not because it’s good for him, but because it’s good for other people.”
The awareness event had over 1,000 people racing throughout the park on Monday, many of whom sported neon green shirts to support Yarl, the Associated Press reported.
“It takes a community. It takes a family. It takes a support group, all of that,” Nagbe said, the Associated Press reported. “Let’s raise more awareness to stop the things that cause brain injuries and should not be causing them, especially gun violence.”
