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The white homeowner charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who mistakenly went to his home, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday during his first court appearance.
Andrew Lester, 84, turned himself in to the Clay County Detention Center in Missouri on Tuesday, police said, one day after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He was released on $200,000 bond Tuesday afternoon.
Yarl, 16, was shot April 13 after he accidentally went to Lester’s address while trying to pick up his brothers, according to a probable cause statement obtained by the Kansas City Star. He was hospitalized after being shot in the head and the arm, according to the statement, but is now home and recovering, family attorney Lee Merritt said on Twitter Wednesday.
“How the bullet in his head did not cause more extensive damage is truly a miracle,” Merritt said.
Lester told investigators he saw a Black male pulling on his exterior door handle and fired two shots within seconds of opening the interior door, according to the statement. Lester said he was “scared to death” and thought someone was breaking in, the statement said. Yarl denied pulling a door handle, according to the statement.
Experts say the shooting may reignite the national debate over “Stand Your Ground” laws. It is one of three recent cases in which young people were shot after being in the wrong place. In upstate New York, a 20-year-old woman was killed after the car she was riding in pulled into the wrong driveway. In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one tried to get into the wrong car, thinking it was hers.
The shooting sparked outrage in Kansas City and across the country. A GoFundMe created by Faith Spoonmore, who identified herself as Yarl’s aunt, has raised more than $3.2 million for Yarl and President Joe Biden said Tuesday he spoke with Yarl on the phone and invited him to the White House.
About 150 community members and civil rights organizations rallied in downtown Kansas City on Tuesday calling for justice for Yarl and demanding the Department of Justice investigate the case.
“Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin,” he said, Merritt said, calling for the shooting to be investigated as a hate crime.
Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said there was a “racial component” to the shooting. When asked why Lester was not charged with a hate crime, Thompson said hate crimes are lesser felonies that carry a lower range of punishment than the charges Lester faces.
Lester faces up to life in prison is convicted of first-degree assault. His attorney, Steve Salmon, did not leave the courthouse to speak with reporters after Wednesday’s hearing.
Lester’s next court date is June 1.
“From this point forward, the state will be pushing to move this case forward as swiftly as legally permitted,” Thompson said in a statement after the hearing.
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Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact Breaking News Reporter N’dea Yancey-Bragg at nyanceybra@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @NdeaYanceyBragg
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