White homeowner, 84, charged with shooting Black teen who knocked on wrong door

A white homeowner has been charged with shooting a Black teenager who rang the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger brothers.

Andrew Lester, 84, shot 16-year-old honour student Ralph Yarl twice on his doorstep in Kansas City, Missouri, last Thursday night.

The shooting sparked outrage across the country, with celebrities and political leaders – including President Joe Biden – demanding justice.

Prosecutor Zachary Thompson told reporters there was a ‘racial component’ to the crime.

But nothing in the file suggests the shooting was racially motivated and Lester is not charged with a hate crime.

He is accused of first-degree assault, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison, as well as armed criminal action, which has a sentence of up to 15 years.

An arrest warrant was issued but Lester was not yet in custody, Mr Thompson said.

He was initially detained for questioning and then let go, sparking city-wide protests on Sunday.

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing the family, questioned why Lester wasn’t arrested and charged immediately.

‘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,’ he said.

On Monday, protesters chanting ‘Black lives under attack’ and ‘stand up, fight back’ descended on Lester’s home, which was spray-painted and egged.

Ralph’s parents had asked him to pick up his brothers at a home on 115th Terrace, but he mistakenly went to 115th Street, and approached Lester’s door at roughly 10pm.

Lester shot him in the forehead through the glass – then shot once more in the right forearm.

There is no indication that either spoke to the other beforehand and there is no CCTV of the encounter.

After being shot, Ralph went to three nearby homes before somebody would help him, his family said.

Missouri is among roughly 30 states with ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws, which allow for the use of deadly force in self-defence.

Lester told police that he lives alone and had just gone to bed when he heard his doorbell, according to the probable cause statement.

He said he picked up his gun and went to the door, where he saw a Black male pulling on the exterior storm door handle and thought someone was breaking in.

Ralph’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said he is ‘doing well physically’ but has a lot of trauma to overcome emotionally.

Mr Crump and another of the family’s lawyers, Lee Merritt, said in a statement that President Biden called them and offered ‘prayers for Ralph’s health and for justice’.

‘Gun violence against unarmed Black individuals must stop,’ the lawyers’ statement read.

‘Our children should feel safe, not as though they are being hunted.’

Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, Justin Timberlake, Halle Berry and Kerry Washington – as well as Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes – are among the celebrities to have condemned the shooting.

A GoFundMe account set up to pay for Ralph’s medical recovery has raised more than $2.1m (£1.7m).

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