US man charged with shooting Black teen who rang his doorbell
3 Min Read
Clay County Prosecutor confirms that the homeowner had been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal conduct.
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A police officer walks past the house where Ralph was shot on Monday, April 17th, 2023. (AP)
Prosecutors in the US state of Missouri have filed felony charges against a white man after he reportedly shot and seriously injured a Black teenager who rang his doorbell by mistake.
Ralph Yarl, 16, was in serious condition after being shot twice, once in the head, late Thursday night while attempting to pick up his twin siblings from a friend's residence nearby.
The story sparked outrage over the weekend after it was discovered that the homeowner had been freed without charges after only 24 hours in detention.
However, Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson stated on Monday that the homeowner, Andrew Lester, had been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal conduct.
Bail was imposed at $200,000 for Lester, whose age was stated as 84 or 85 by prosecutors and the US media.
"To pretend that race is not a part of this situation is to have your head in the sand," Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told CNN on Tuesday. "This boy was shot because he was existing while black."
The White House reported Monday evening that US President Joe Biden talked with Yarl via phone and "shared his hope for a swift recovery."
Faith Spoonmoore, Yarl's aunt, stated on a GoFundMe campaign that her nephew was a gifted student who aspired to study chemical engineering. The fundraising has raised more than $2.8 million for Yarl as of Tuesday morning.
In the United States, a country of about 330 million people and an estimated 400 million weapons, fatal shootings are common.
But Yarl's case has prompted a special outrage as the country grapples with a long history of impunity for violence against Black Americans.
Read more: The killings of Black women rose during the pandemic: WSJ
At a news conference on Sunday night, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves stated that the information at the moment does not say that the case is "racially motivated" and that the investigation was still ongoing.
"But as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case. I do recognize and understand the community's concern."
Charges were also filed Monday in a similar case in New York state.
A 20-year-old woman was shot dead on Saturday after her friend pulled into the driveway of a house they believed belonged to a friend, according to New York authorities.
Kaylin Gillis was pronounced dead, as confirmed by the Washington County Sherif Jeffrey Murphy in a statement, after Kevin Monahan, 65, fired at the car with four friends inside who realized they got the wrong address.
"While they were leaving the residence after they determined they were at the wrong house, the subject came out on his porch for whatever reason and fired two shots, one of which struck the vehicle that Kaylin was in," said Jeffrey Murphy, the sheriff of Washington County, where the shooting occurred.
The perpetrator, Monahan, is being detained at the Warren County jail and faces charges of second-degree murder.
