Shot for ringing the wrong doorbell: The outrage in the US over attack on Black teen

Ralph Yarl Shooting Case: The White man accused of shooting a Black teenager who mistakenly rang his doorbell in Missouri’s Kansas City in the United States will be arraigned on Wednesday (19 April). As per CNN, 84-year-old Andrew Lester turned himself in on Tuesday for firing at Ralph Yarl. He was later released on a $200,000 bond. What is the case about and how has it caused uproar in the US? Let’s find out. ‘Don’t come around here’ Yarl, a junior in high school, was asked to pick up his twin brothers from a friend’s house on 115th Terrace on 13 April. However, he accidentally ended up at 115th Street, where he rang the doorbell of Lester’s residence at 10 pm local time. According to the octogenarian’s statement to the police, he had just gone to bed when he heard the doorbell. Lester grabbed his .32 caliber revolver and went to the front entrance of the house which has an interior door and an exterior door made of glass, reported CNN. Lester opened the interior door and “saw a black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle,” according to the police statement. [caption id=“attachment_12476502” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl as he was “scared to death”. Reuters[/caption] “He stated he believed someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door,” the probable cause document was cited as saying by Associated Press (AP). “He believed he was protecting himself from a physical confrontation and could not take the chance of the male coming in,” the document added. There was reportedly no conversation between the two before the shooting.

Yarl told police he rang the doorbell but did not pull on the door.

As per AP, the man shot Yarl in the head and after he fell to the ground, he again shot the teenager in the arm. As Yarl got up to flee, Lester told him: “Don’t come around here,” according to the police report. How is Yarl now? After the shooting, Yarl sought help from “multiple” neighbouring houses before someone called the police, as per reports. James Lynch was the neighbour who found Yarl covered in blood, reported AP. Another neighbour came out with towels to suppress the bleeding till paramedics reached the scene. As per a Vox article, Yarl, who loves music and engineering, was hospitalised with life-threatening injuries but is now expected to make a full recovery after surgery. Yarl’s attorney Ben Crump told CNN on Monday that he was discharged from the hospital but “he’s not out of the woods yet.” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, told CBS Mornings that her son is in good spirits but the trauma continues to linger. She said he is “able to communicate mostly when he feels like it, but mostly he just sits there and stares, and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes.” “You can see that he is just replaying the situation over and over again, and that just doesn’t stop my tears either,” Nagbe was quoted as saying by AP. “The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable,” Yarl’s aunt Faith Spoonmore wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Life looks a lot different right now,” she wrote, as per Vox. “Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally.” ALSO READ: Even as US mass shootings continue, 2024 Republican hopefuls back NRA: Why is the gun lobby so powerful? Charges against Lester Lester was detained for only two hours on the night of the shooting and released as the police needed to further probe the incident, reported CNN. “If they would have held him for 24 hours, they would have held him long enough to get the statement from the kid with a bullet in his brain," Lee Merritt, another attorney for the Yarl family, told AP. “They got the statement the very next day.” The 84-year-old White man is facing two felony charges – first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The assault charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison, while armed criminal action can land someone in jail for anywhere between 3-15 years. ‘Racial component’ Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he believes the shooting was racially motivated. “This boy was shot because he was existing while Black,” Lucas was quoted as saying by CNN. Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said, “There was a racial component to this case,” without adding further. Law enforcement is also being cornered for not acting against Lester quickly. “Nobody can tell us if the roles were reversed, and you had a Black man shoot a White 16-year-old teenager for merely ringing his doorbell that he would not be arrested. I mean, this citizen went home and slept in his bed at night after shooting that young Black kid in the head,” Crump, Yarl’s attorneys, told CNN. “Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin,” Merritt was quoted as saying by AP. ALSO READ: Racism against blacks made USA lose $16 trillion since 2000, says Biden official Protests in Kansas City The teenager’s shooting triggered protests in Kansas City as the incident put the spotlight on racial relations in the US. Hundreds of demonstrators marched over the weekend, chanting “Justice for Ralph” and calling for Lester’s arrest. [caption id=“attachment_12476512” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Protests erupted across Kansas City over the shooting of a Black teen. AP[/caption] Yarl’s classmates held protests on Tuesday, holding placards that read: “We Walk For RALPH,” “Stop The Hate” and “Justice 4 RALPH”, reported AP. The incident also evoked memories of the killing of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery – young Black males – whose shooters later claimed self-defence. It also outraged political leaders, including President Joe Biden who has demanded justice. He also invited Yarl to the White House.

White House: President Joe Biden spoke with Ralph Yarl this evening over the phone; wished for a speedy recovery

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 18, 2023

Missouri’s gun laws Legal experts believe Lester’s lawyers will claim self-defence under Missouri’s “stand your ground” law. This legislation allows people to respond to threats or force in any place if a person fears for their life, as per media reports. Missouri is among around 30 states in the US that have such statutes. St. Louis defense attorney Nina McDonnell told AP that prosecutors have a strong case against Lester but “stand your ground” law defence is a “huge hurdle” to overcome. “The defendant was in his house and has expressed that he was in fear," McDonnell said. The incident has also once again raised questions about US’ liberal gun laws in several states amid heightened violence. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.