84-Year-Old Formally Charged After Protesters Form Up Outside of Home Where Black Teen Was Shot

Protesters marched in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday near the house where a black teenager was shot by an elderly white resident of the house who has since been charged with two crimes. Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot on…

IJR SyndicatedApr 18, 20233 min read

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Lester, 84, will be charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. A warrant has been issued for Lester’s arrest. He is not in custody, Clay County attorney Zachary Thompson said Monday evening, according to CNN.

“I can tell you there was a racial component to this case,” Thompson said.

He said there is no indication either the shooter or victim spoke. Thompson said Yarl did not ever enter the house, and Lester allegedly fired through a glass door with a .32 caliber revolver, Thompson said.

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Yarl was “shot twice and struck in the head and arm,” his family’s attorneys said in a statement.

Like the protesters marching Sunday, Crump has called the incident racially motivated.

“We have been informed by his family that it was a white man who shot their 16-year-old son,” Crump said.

“It is inescapable not to observe the racial dynamics here,” Crump said. “If the roles were reversed, how much outraged would there be in America?”

Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, who is black, said he was “heartbroken and angry about the situation that we find ourselves in,” according to The New York Times.

“You’ve heard about driving while black. You’ve heard about all the other issues that black people confront in life. Can you not knock on the door while black? It’s almost like you can’t exist,” he said.

Lucas said that even though Missouri has a Stand Your Ground law, it should not apply to Yarl’s case.

“If Stand Your Ground really lets somebody just shoot somebody that rings a doorbell, that put the life of every postal worker, every campaigner, every Amazon delivery person at risk in this country,” he said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.