Andrew Lester told police he shot Ralph Yarl because he was "scared to death" by the 16-year-old's size and believed he was trying to break in.
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The Black Missouri teen who was shot by an elderly white homeowner after he mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell told authorities that the man shouted, "Don't come around here" as the boy got up to run away, according to a probable cause statement filed by police.
Ralph Yarl, 16, told police that 84-year-old Andrew Lester made the remarks after shooting him twice on April 13 when the teen went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, according to the probable cause statement.
"He stated he got up and ran away to keep from being shot," the probable cause statement says of Yarl, who was shot in his head and arm.
Lester told investigators that when he saw Yarl at his doorstep, he was "scared to death" by his size and believed that someone was trying to break into his home, according to the probable cause statement.
The elderly man "believed he was protecting himself from a physical confrontation" and told police that no words were exchanged during the ordeal, the probable cause statement says.
Lester was charged in the case on Monday with two felonies — assault in the first-degree and armed criminal action. He surrendered to authorities on Tuesday, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.
Meanwhile, Yarl has been released from a local hospital and is recovering at home.
"He's able to communicate mostly when he feels like it, but mostly he just sits there and stares, and the buckets of tears just roll down his eyes," Yarl's mother, Cleo Nagbe, told CBS Morning's Gayle King on Tuesday. "You can see that he's just replaying the situation over and over again."
