UJ
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The 84-year-old man charged with the shooting of a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City voluntarily surrendered on Tuesday and was later granted bail, according to reports from authorities.
Andrew Lester is facing two felony charges—first-degree assault and armed criminal action—stemming from the April 13 incident involving Ralph Yarl, and is due to be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon, as stated by the attorney for Yarl’s family, Lee Merritt. UJ is awaiting confirmation from prosecutors on this information.
Lester turned himself in at a local detention facility on Tuesday and was subsequently released on a $200,000 bail. The bond conditions require him to refrain from possessing any weapons and to avoid direct or indirect contact with Yarl or his family, as reported by Sarah Boyd, spokesperson for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Ralph Yarl, 16, suffered gunshot wounds to his head and arm after mistakenly visiting the wrong home to collect his siblings. His family stated that he has since left the hospital but will face challenges during his recovery.
According to police, Lester claimed he didn’t converse with the teenager prior to firing at him through a locked glass door.
UJ has attempted to contact the homeowner. As of now, it remains unclear if Lester has legal representation.
For Ralph’s family, the criminal charges offer some degree of solace, though they recognize a challenging journey lies ahead both for Ralph’s recovery and the pursuit of justice, as expressed by his aunt, Faith Spoonmore, to UJ.
“It’s not merely a matter of turning a page,” Spoonmore said on Tuesday. “It’s somewhat reassuring that he is likely to receive a portion of what he deserves.”
Nevertheless, there are lingering questions regarding why Lester was briefly detained before being released hours following the shooting on April 13.
“I share the outrage and concern of many in questioning the reasoning behind this,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas stated to UJ.
“In Missouri, there’s provision for a 24-hour hold. It’s apparent that this was only a few hours, during which the suspect was interrogated, and he was allowed to return home the same evening.”
Upon answering the doorbell, Lester stated that he fired immediately after observing Ralph attempting to pull on the handle of the exterior door, according to the probable cause document obtained by UJ.
According to the document, Lester claimed that he believed Ralph was trying to force entry into his home and that he was “scared to death” because of the teenager’s size.
Officers were notified minutes before 10 p.m. that evening, responding to reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they discovered Ralph injured on the pavement.
The incident resulted in Ralph, who is a band leader and plays the bass clarinet, sustaining gunshot wounds to his head and arm. During his hospitalization, Ralph informed police that he did not pull on the door.
According to attorney Ben Crump, it was “nothing short of a miracle” that Ralph was released from the hospital, but added, “he’s not completely out of the woods yet.”
The shooting sparked protests in Kansas City, evoking memories of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery—young Black men who were fatally shot by individuals later citing self-defense.
Protesters have taken to the streets in Kansas City, chanting “Justice for Ralph” and demanding the arrest of the shooter.
The shooting occurred just days before another incident in upstate New York involving the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old woman who was mistakenly in the wrong driveway.
Ralph’s legal team asserts that the teenager posed no threat to his assailant, yet it remains uncertain if Missouri’s “stand your ground” law will be invoked as part of Lester’s defense strategy.
“Stand your ground” laws enable individuals to react to threats with force without fearing criminal repercussions in locations where they are authorized to be.
Ralph’s aunt challenged the idea that her nephew’s “size” could present a threat.
“I can’t comprehend how,” Spoonmore remarked. “I doubt Ralph weighs more than 170 pounds or even stands 6 feet tall.”
She expressed her commitment to seeking justice for her nephew.
“I want justice to be equal for everyone,” Spoonmore stated. “I want justice to be uniform.”
According to the mayor, he believes that Ralph was a victim of racial profiling by the shooter.
“This boy was shot for merely existing while being Black,” asserted Lucas.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson has stated, “There was a racial element to this case,” but did not provide further details.
On the night of the shooting, Lester was detained but released in under two hours, according to two representatives at the Kansas City Police Department detention unit who spoke with UJ.
The reason for Lester’s release was that police felt further investigation was necessary, Thompson clarified.
Attorney Crump raised concerns regarding the duration of Lester’s detention.
“No one can assure us that if the roles were reversed—if a Black man had shot a White teenager for simply ringing his doorbell—that he would not have been arrested. This individual went home and slept in his bed after shooting that young Black boy in the head,” Crump stated to UJ.
“He merely rang the doorbell. That’s it,” the teenager’s attorney emphasized. “The homeowner fired through the door, striking him in the head and then shot him again.”
The mayor mentioned that he only became aware of the details days after the incident, while affirming his belief that race influenced the shooting. He acknowledged the efforts of police—comprised of White officers—who facilitated charges against Lester.
“We indeed had officers—White officers—who dedicated considerable effort to ensure this case file was delivered to the prosecutor, resulting in swift action for charges to be filed,” Lucas stated.
“That said, to deny that race played a part in this entire situation would be to ignore the reality.”
Before the shooting occurred, Lester was resting in bed when he heard the doorbell ring and picked up his .32 caliber revolver, as he recounted to police, per the probable cause statement.
He approached the house’s front entry, which consisted of an internal door and a locked glass door.
Upon opening the internal door, Lester claimed he “saw a Black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle,” according to his account to police.
“He stated he feared that someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice just seconds after opening the door,” the probable cause statement outlines.
“He believed he was defending himself from a potential physical altercation and felt he could not afford to take the chance of the male entering,” the document explains.
Lester reportedly called 911 immediately after the shooting, as per the documented account.
Police interviewed Ralph while he received treatment at the hospital, where he disclosed that his mother had instructed him to pick up his brothers at a location designated as 1100 NE 115th Street, though they were actually at 1100 NE 115th Terrace.
Upon reaching the address on 115th Street, Ralph indicated that he rang the doorbell and waited until a man opened the door and shot him in the head, causing him to collapse, as detailed in the document.
While Ralph was still on the ground, the man fired again, hitting him in the arm, according to his testimony to the police.
Ralph recounted that he quickly got to his feet and ran to avoid further gunfire, noting that he heard the man tell him, “Don’t come around here.” He then sought assistance at several nearby residences, imploring residents to contact the police.
The boy told police that he did not pull on the door, as stated in the probable cause document.
Responding officers noted the broken glass of the front storm door at Lester’s residence, with blood evident on the porch and driveway.
According to a GoFundMe page launched by Ralph’s aunt, the teenager “had to run to three different homes before anyone finally agreed to assist him after being instructed to lie on the ground with his hands up.”
One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, told UJ that she called 911 after Ralph arrived at her door, bleeding from his injuries.
As the location of the shooter was unknown at the time, the emergency operator instructed her to stay indoors for her safety. Initially complying, she later ventured outside with towels to help stem the flow of blood.
“This is someone’s child. I had to wash the blood off my door and railing. That was blood from someone’s child,” she expressed. “As a mom, this is not acceptable.”
‘You can’t profile and shoot our children’
Ralph continues to experience trauma from the incident, yet the family remains hopeful for his complete recovery due to his youth and resilience, according to Crump.
“He and his family are simply relieved that he survived after being shot in the head,” Crump conveyed to UJ.
Merritt indicated on Tuesday that the first bullet entered less than five feet into Yarl’s upper temple, penetrating his skull.
“They removed bullet fragments from his frontal lobe on Thursday, and by Saturday, he was home playing with his dog,” Merritt reported.
He asserted that the community and its leaders could not continue without acknowledging the need for change.
“That was indeed a miracle. We must now ponder what we are to learn from that miracle,” he advised.
Ralph, who is a section leader in a marching band and often found with an instrument in hand, had anticipated graduating high school and traveling to West Africa prior to enrolling in college, as shared on the GoFundMe page.
“Life looks significantly different right now. Although he is making physical progress, mentally and emotionally, he faces a lengthy process. The trauma he must endure and overcome is unimaginable,” the aunt wrote in the fundraising campaign.
The GoFundMe initiative aimed at covering the family’s medical expenses has raised over $2 million by Monday night.
Crump has compared Ralph’s shooting to the incidents involving 17-year-old Martin in Florida and 25-year-old Arbery in Georgia.
“We are unwavering in our fight against the notion that one can profile and shoot our children merely due to the existence of these ‘stand your ground’ laws,” Crump stated. “This is intolerable.”
Merritt communicated to UJ on Monday that the “stand your ground” defense would not be applicable in Ralph’s case.
“The ‘stand your ground’ law, according to Missouri statutes, cannot be applied in this case, as there has been no dialogue—neither from the suspect nor the victim or law enforcement—indicating that Ralph Yarl, at just 16 years old, was ever a threat to the shooter,” Merritt affirmed.
President Chats with Teen and Mother
President Joe Biden held a telephone conversation with Ralph and his mother, Cleo Nagbe, on Monday evening, as reported by a White House official to UJ.
Biden also highlighted Ralph’s good fortune in having a mother who is not only a nurse but also a physical therapist.
The discussion encompassed their families, their passion for music, and Ralph’s aspirations to study chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, to which Biden made light-hearted comments suggesting his own alma mater, the University of Delaware, would be a better choice.
“The president also pledged to continue his advocacy against gun violence,” the official shared.
