Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white man charged with shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, has turned himself in to the police. As previously reported by REVOLT, the young teen was attempting to pick his little brothers up from a nearby residence when he accidentally knocked on the wrong door and was shot twice.
Today (April 18), a spokesperson for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to local Kansas City, Missouri news station Fox 4 KC that Lester is now in custody at the Clay County Detention Center. Over the weekend, hundreds of protesters showed up near his home to demand he be arrested for shooting Yarl. Zachary Thompson, a local prosecutor, previously stated there was reason to believe there was “a racial component” in the shooting.
The incident took place on Thursday (April 13), when Yarl showed up in the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Street, instead of the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Terrace. Relatives say the high school junior left his cellphone at home and was not using GPS when the mixup occurred. Cleo Nagbe, the boy’s mother, said her son intended to pick his siblings up from a sleepover that night. “He went and rang the doorbell. And he was supposed to stay outside, and his brothers were supposed to run outside, get in the car and they come home. That was what was [supposed] to happen. While he was standing there, his brothers didn’t run outside, but he got a couple of bullets in his body instead of a couple of twins coming up, out, and giving him a hug,” she told Fox 4 KC.
Lester, who shot the teen in the head and arm, was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. It is possible that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Yarl spent several days in the hospital and was released yesterday (April 17). Nagbe noted that the only reason her son is home is that the family consists of medical experts: “The residual effect of that injury is going to stay with him for quite a while. He’s home, but I want to remind everybody that Ralph is home because he is surrounded by a team of medical professionals. I’m a nurse for almost 20 years. His aunt is a physical therapist, his uncle is a medical professional. That is why he is home.”