Another case of Racial Profiling?

The white home owner that shot Ralph Yarl’s s after he rang the wrong doorbell, released on bail.

The story.‍

On Thursday, April 13th 2023 in Kansas City, Andrew Lester an 84-year -old white man accused of shooting a black teenager that rang his doorbell turned himself in to the authorities on Tuesday 18th April 2023 and only a few hours later on was released on bail according to the authorities.

Andrew is faced with two charges of felony, the first, assault in the first degree and the second, armed criminal action. According to the attorney of the Yarl family,Ralph will be arraigned Wednesday afternoon. Lester’s $200k bond prohibit him from having any type of weapon and cannot have direct or indirect contact with Yarl or his family, according to Clay County Sherif’s office spokesperson sarah Boyd. According to Yarl’s family, he went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings. Also, they said that he has been released from the hospital where he was being cared for but faces an arduous road to recovery. Lester told the police that he and the teenager did not exchange words before he fired at him through a locked glass-door.

According to a document of probable cause obtained by CNN his statement to the police was that he fired immediately after answering the doorbell when he saw Yarl pulling on an exterior door handle, and that he thought that ralth was trying to break into the home and he was scared to death due to his body size.

The officers who responded just before 10p.m. that night following reposrts of a shooting, only to find wounded Ralph on the street. Ralph took gunshot damage and wounds to the head and his arm. Hospitalised Yarl told the police that he did not pull on the door in the same document. 

The criminal charges did bring a bit of comfort to the family of Yarl but long roads lie ahead, both with ralphs recovery and the quest for justice. His aunt Faith Spoonmore in an interview with CNN on Tuesday said, "It's not as simple as turning a page." "It's a little better that he is hopefully going to get part of what he deserves”.

Ben Crump,who is also Ralph’s attorney while giving an update on his condition to CNN said “it is a miracle, nothing short of a miracle, he and his family are just happy that he is alive” and even though he isn’t completely out of danger, the prognosis is giving more hope that he will be fine even though he still has severe post traumatic stress disorder.

The shooting of Kansas city star Ralph, a bass clarinet and band leader at his school has fueled a lot of protests in the city of Kansas as the city reminisces the young black males Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. Demonstrators have marched through Kansas City chanting, “Justice for Ralph,” and calling for the shooter’s arrest.

Despite Andrew Lester claiming that Ralph was a threat, his aunt challenged that notion saying, “I don’t even understand how, I doubt Ralph is even 170 pounds. Ralph is not even 6 feet (height)” she continued to state how shes on a  mission to find justice for her nephew in a statement in which Spoonmore said, “I want justice to look the same across the board”.
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Another case of Racial Profiling?‍

"This boy was shot because he was existing while Black,” said the mayor who claimed and strongly believes without a single doubt that the young Ralph’s shooter racially did profile him.

The Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson did also concur with the mayor. Lester did get taken into custody the night on which the shooting happened however, less than two hours later he was released according to some representatives at the Kansas City Police department detention facility. This was  because police recognized that more investigative work had to be done, Thompson said.

Attorney Crump questioned why Lester was not detained longer.‍

“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 told CNN.‍

“He merely rang the doorbell. That was it,” the teen’s attorney said. “And the owner of the home shoots through the door, hitting him in the head and then shoots him a second time.”‍

The mayor said he didn’t even know the details of the case until several days after the shooting. And while he believes race played a role in the shooting, he acknowledged the work by police – including White officers – who helped prosecutors file charges against Lester.

‍“We did have officers, White officers for what it’s worth, who did a lot of hard work to get this case file to the prosecutor having charges filed shortly thereafter,” Lucas said.

“That being said, to pretend that race is not a part of this whole situation would be to have your head in the sand.”‍

How it all happened ‍

According to a statement of probable cause, Lester reported to the police that while he was in bed, he heard the doorbell ring and retrieved his .32 caliber firearm prior to the shooting.

The individual proceeded towards the main entrance of his residence, which comprises two doors, one situated inside and the other crafted with glass on the outside - both of which were securely fastened.

Lester opened the interior door and “saw a black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle,” Lester told police.

“He stated he believed someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door." The statement outlining the possible cause indicates. It also indicated that, He thought that he was keeping himself safe from an altercation and couldn't risk the possibility of the man entering. Lester continues to say that he called 911 immediately the shooting was done.

During a conversation with Ralph at a hospital, the police were informed that Ralph's mother requested him to fetch his siblings from a location specified as 1100 NE 115th Street. However, the recorded information revealed that the accurate address of their residency was actually 1100 NE 115th Terrace.‍

Upon reaching the residence located at 115th Street, Ralph recounted how he rang the doorbell and patiently waited for some time. Subsequently, a man emerged and without any delay, fired a bullet at his head, causing him to fall down, according to the record. According to Ralph's statement to the police, the man proceeded to shoot the teenager in the arm while he was still lying on the ground.

Ralph said he got up and ran to keep from being shot, and he heard the man say, “Don’t come around here,” the document states and he also proceeded to nearby homes to asking for help and telling people to call police.‍

Racial profiling and shooting young black children should not keep happening

Even though he suffers severe post traumatic stress disorder and it’s effects, Ralph’s family is positive he will pull through it because he is infact a fighter according to Crump. With an unimaginable amount of trauma that he has to endure and ultimately survive, things will not be the same again.

A GoFundMe page was created inorder to support the family in raising some money to handle the medical bills hitting about $2million by Monday night.

Mr. Crump went ahead to say, “We continue to fight to say you can’t profile and shoot our children, just because you have this ‘stand your ground’ law,” something that wasn’t applicable to Ralph’s case according to him.

President Biden Reaches out to Ralph

According an official from the White House, President Joe Biden reached out on phone to  Ralph  and his mother Cleo mentioning how fortunate Ralph is to have a mother that is a nurse and a physical therapist.

During this heartfelt conversation, Ralph’s passion for music and his desire to pursue a career in chemical engineering at Texas A&M university and the familys’ love for music were a part of the topics. The president did also commit to continue in his fight against gun violence according to the White House official.

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