Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, shot Black teen Ralph Yarl twice through the storm door of his Kansas City home without a word being said, according to police.
About 10 p.m., after 84-year-old Andrew Lester had gone to bed in his quiet Kansas City neighborhood, someone rang his doorbell. The white man grabbed his .32 caliber revolver and walked to his door, he told police.
Lester saw "a Black male" who was 6 feet tall and pulling on his storm door, he told officers, according to an arrest affidavit. Not a word was said, and within seconds, Lester pulled the trigger twice, hitting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in the face and arm, the affidavit alleges.
Probable Cause Affidavit for Andrew Lester
"Don't come around here," the teen said he heard as he ran for his life, bleeding and stumbling while calling for help. Yarl had been sent by his mother to pick up his younger twin brothers, who were at a friend's house, he told police. He never pulled on the door, he said.
Yarl had gone to the wrong house. He ended up at Lester's house on 115th Street. His brothers were at a home on 115th Terrace, one block away, police said.
Neighbor Zac Dovel said he ran with his mother to help the teen. "There was blood from where he was at all the way up all over the door," Dovel said.
They were told by a 911 operator to not answer their door because of gunshots reported in the area, he said. They went out anyway. "All we know is he was hurt. He needs to get help. We need to get him. He needs to be the priority right now," Dovel said.
Lester's grandson says the elderly man thought he was in danger. The shooting “never should have happened," he told The Daily Beast. “It’s just crazy. I wish it didn’t happen,” Daniel Ludwig said.
Ralph Yarl is an accomplished musician and stellar student, his family says. He stands 5 feet, 8 inches. He is slim and could hardly be seen as intimidating, his parents said.
The racial divide created by last week's shooting grows ever wider. On one side is an elderly white man who opened fire allegedly without speaking, and on the other is a mounting chorus of voices saying the teen was shot because of the color of his skin.
Lester surrendered Tuesday afternoon, 20 hours after his arrest warrant was issued. He appeared the Clay County Detention Center, where he was booked on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action, authorities said. He was released within hours after posting $200,000 bail, officials said.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. His next scheduled hearing is June 1, according to court records. Additional orders were added to his bail conditions, including demands for the surrender of his passport and his concealed carry permit. He was also told to not leave the state.
Under the terms of his bond release, Lester is ordered to have no contact with Yarl or his family and is being monitored via cellphone, according to online court records. He cannot possess a firearm.
According to public records, he has no criminal history, is a retired airline mechanic and possessed hunting and fishing licenses issued by the state of Missouri.
His grandson said he, too, had gotten lost in his grandfather's neighborhood.
“I’d go to visit my grandpa, and I would get lost on those streets,” he told The Daily Beast. “It’s easy to do. They all look the same and everything."
Meanwhile, the allegations of racism have increased. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said Wednesday the shooting was all about race.
“I think that this has everything to do with race — the defendant’s fear of Black people, Black men, Black boys,” Lucas told CNN. “I think if the young man wasn’t Black, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Prominent civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and S. Lee Merritt are representing Yarl and his family.
“Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin,” Merritt told CBS News. He also said Lester should be charged with a hate crime.
The teen has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home, where his mother, who is a nurse, is helping to care for him.
Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson said earlier this week that there "was a racial component" to the shooting, but declined to elaborate.
Questions have also been raised about why Lester wasn't arrested sooner in connection with Thursday's shooting. After being initially questioned and booked, he was released less than two hours later, police said, after being advised by Clay County prosecutors that the case needed further investigation, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
“There can be no excuse for the release of this armed and dangerous suspect after admitting to shooting an unarmed, nonthreatening and defenseless teenager that rang his doorbell,” the Yarl family lawyers wrote in a joint statement released Sunday.
A GoFundMe account established to help with medical expenses has amassed more than $3.2 million as of Wednesday.
"Ralph is currently at home with the family. He can ambulate and communicate. A true miracle considering what he survived," his aunt, Faith Spoonmore, wrote in an update to the fundraising page.
"Each day is different. He has a long road ahead. However, we are very thankful that he is still here with us. I've been taking the time to read the emails and comments to Ralph. It warms our hearts to see him smile at all the kind words," his aunt said.
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