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The 84-year-old white Missouri man charged with shooting black teen Ralph Yarl when he mistakenly rang his doorbell allegedly told him, “Don’t come around here” as the high-achieving student ran for his life after being blasted in the head.
Yarl told Kansas City investigators he arrived at the wrong address on Thursday night to pick up his twin brothers when he rang the doorbell belonging to Andrew Lester, who claims he was “scared to death” and believed someone was trying to break into his home, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Lester told police he was just about to go to bed before the doorbell rang.
He said he saw a “black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the storm door handle.”
Yarl, however, maintains that he never touched Lester’s door and had never been on the property before that night, the affidavit states.
The teen said he had been waiting for a long time before Lester finally opened his front door with a .32 revolver in his hand.
The gifted, young musician told cops he was “immediately shot in the head” and fell to the ground before he was then blasted again in the arm.
Yarl claimed Lester warned, “Don’t come around here,” as he fled, fearing he would be shot yet again.
The high school student then ran through the neighborhood, screaming for help outside multiple homes before one man finally rushed to his aid, according to the affidavit.
After the shooting, Lester called 911.
Ralph Yarl told Kansas City investigators he arrived at the wrong address on Thursday night to pick up his twin brothers when he rang the doorbell belonging to Andrew Lester.
The 16-year-old told authorities that Lester warned, “Don’t come around here,” as he fled, fearing he would be shot yet again. Lee Merritt via REUTERS
Lester, 84, was taken into police custody following the shooting, where he was booked and fingerprinted before being released the following day. Kansas City Police
Lester claimed he was “scared to death” and believed someone was trying to break into his home, according to a probable cause affidavit.
He told authorities no words were exchanged between him and the teen, with the affidavit stating that Lester “repeatedly expressed concern for the victim.”
Police recovered the .32 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver from Lester’s living room, which had two spent rounds in the cylinder.
They also took a hard drive connected to the home’s security cameras, but noted that the footage was “no longer functional.” Lester had signs at the residence warning against solicitors and trespassers.
He told authorities no words were exchanged between him and the teen, with the affidavit stating that Lester “repeatedly expressed concern for the victim.”
The high school student then ran through the neighborhood, screaming for help outside multiple homes before one man finally rushed to his aid, according to the affidavit.
Lester was taken into police custody following the shooting, where he was booked and fingerprinted before being released the following day, resulting in protests and outcry over law enforcement’s failure to immediately charge and arrest the man.
The homeowner has since been charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action, with an arrest warrant issued, according to the Clay County Prosecutor’s office.
What we know about the Ralph Yarl shooting
Who is Yarl?
The black Missouri teen is “one of the top bass clarinet players in Missouri,” according to his family. The 16-year-old is also a part of his school’s Technology Student Association and Science Olympiad Team.
Why was he shot?
Yarl was shot in the head after he rang the wrong doorbell while trying to pick up his twin brothers at a home in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said Yarl sustained life-threatening injuries when he was shot, and hundreds of protesters rallied after the gunman, 84-year-old Andrew D. Lester, was initially released.
The teen’s aunt talked about the terrifying incident on a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $900,000.
What could happen to Lester?
The homeowner could spend the rest of his life in jail after prosecutors charged him with two felony counts.
Lester was charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action for the shooting, which had a “racial component,” according to the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office.
The charges carry 10 to 30 years behind bars, or life in prison, prosecutors said.
According to the affidavit, Lester claimed he was defending himself against a possible home invasion, which would play into Missouri’s “Stand your ground” law.
Yarl was shot twice, once in the head and once in the arm, according to authorities. shaunking/Instgram
The family of Ralph Yarl stood side by side with hundreds of community members from across the Kansas City metro. KSHBAccording to the state’s self-defense law, a person may use physical and deadly force against another if they have a reason to believe that such force is necessary to protect “against death, serious physical injury or any forcible felony.”
Missouri’s “castle doctrine” specifically allows such action to be used in a person’s home, which will likely play into the case as Lester was inside his house when he fired at Yarl, who was standing outside.
It remains to be seen if Lester will be able to argue that he faced a legitimate threat when Yarl rang his doorbell.
