On Thursday (April 13), a 16-year-old Black boy was allegedly shot twice in the head by a white man after accidentally ringing the doorbell of a wrong home while attempting to pick up his siblings in North Kansas City, Missouri.

According to a GoFundMe his aunt Faith Spoonmore created today (April 16) to help pay for hospital bills, therapy and future expenses, the boy’s name is Ralph Yarl. “He didn’t have his phone. He mistakenly went to the wrong house, one block away from the house where his siblings were,” she wrote. “The man in the home opened the door, looked my nephew in the eye, and shot him in the head. My nephew fell to the ground, and the man shot him again. Ralph was then able to get up and run to the neighbor’s house, looking for help.”

She continued, “Unfortunately, he had to run to [three] different homes before someone finally agreed to help him after he was told to lie on the ground with his hands up.” The fundraiser goal is set to $500,000 and has already reached little over $135,000 as of the time of this article.

Yarl is currently in the hospital fighting for his life as the family demands justice for this incident that they’re calling a “hate crime.” The Kansas City Defender reported that white shooter was taken into police custody to provide a statement, but was released shortly after without any charges held against him.

A protest was held today as community members and supporters gathered together to help spread awareness about the case, while bringing attention to the issue of racial violence and injustice in America. Spoonmore said that the man’s intention was to kill the young victim. “This was not an error, this was a hate crime,” Spoonmore told the media outlet. “You don’t shoot a child in the head because he rang your doorbell. The fact that the police said it was an ‘error’ is why America is the way it is.”

“He looked him in the face and shot him… and the individual is free to go about his day as if he did a great deed. While my nephew Ralph Yarl is a great kid, an intelligent kid, a Black boy is left with so many broken pieces,” she added.

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