Protesters in Kansas City, Missouri, are demanding “justice” after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl allegedly went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings Thursday night and was shot twice by the resident shortly after the doorbell rang.
The resident, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, claims he walked to the door and opened it after hearing the doorbell and saw Yarl pulling on the exterior door handle, KCTV 5 reported.
CNN noted that Lester told authorities he was “scared to death,” in part because of Yarl’s size. Lester fired at least two shots, hitting Yarl in the head and in the arm.
Yarl claims he did not grab the door handle.
The Kansas City Star pointed out that Yarl was released from the hospital on Thursday,
Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson “filed felony criminal charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action against Lester” on Monday, according to NPR.
Thompson indicated that “probable cause documents” do not indicate the shooting was racially motivated.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.