Protests have erupted in Kansas City, Missouri, after a Black teenager was shot in the head and arm by a white homeowner late last week after ringing the wrong doorbell.
Ralph Yarl, 16, has been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, which took place when he went to collect his two younger brothers on Thursday after 10 p.m. local time. Police said Yarl mistook 115th Terrace for 115th Street, where he was shot.
According to Faith Spoonmore, who identified herself as Yarl’s aunt and has started a GoFundMe page, the homeowner “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.”
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Officers responded to reports of a shooting and found that Yarl had been wounded. Police said Sunday that he is in a stable condition.
“Despite the severity of his injuries and the seriousness of his condition, Ralph is alive and recovering,” said civil rights attorneys S. Lee Merritt and Benjamin Crump in a statement issued on behalf of the Yarl family. Crump has represented the families of victims in other high-profile shootings, including Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
The attorneys are demanding “swift action” from Clay County prosecutors against the homeowner.
On Sunday, hundreds of people took to the streets in Kansas City in protest, chanting “justice for Ralph” and “Black lives matter,” while carrying signs calling for the shooter to be arrested, CNN reported, and that “Ringing a doorbell is not a crime.”
The shooter—who has not yet been identified—was taken into custody and placed on 24-hour hold while investigations are carried out, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said in a news conference Sunday.
The Independent reported on Monday that the homeowner was released from police custody.
“The information that we have now, it does not say that that is racially motivated. That’s still an active investigation,” Graves added. “But as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas reiterated that there will be a thorough investigation by the prosecutor’s office. “As a parent, I certainly feel for the mother of the victim and others in the family. My heart goes out to them,” Lucas said.
According to Spoonmore’s funding page, Yarl plays multiple instruments in the metropolitan youth orchestra and is a 2022 Missouri scholar academy alumni. His goal is to one day attend Texas A&M University to study chemical engineering.
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