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Black Kansas City teen shot after going to wrong address to pick up siblings Black Kansas City teen shot after going to wrong address to pick up siblings
(36 minutes later)
Ralph Yarl, 16, has life-threatening injuries and lawyer says ‘It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play’ Ralph Yarl, 16, in stable condition as lawyer says ‘It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play’
Kansas City police were working to quickly prepare evidence for the Clay county prosecutor in the shooting of a Black teenager who was trying to pick up his younger brothers from a friend’s house on Thursday. The shooting of a Black teenager who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger twin brothers from a play date is under investigation by authorities in Missouri, amid growing outrage that the homeowner who wounded him was released by police.
“I want everyone to know that I am listening,” the police chief, Stacey Graves, said on Sunday at a news conference, “and I understand the concern we are receiving from the community.” Ralph Yarl, 16, was in a stable condition in hospital in Kansas City on Monday. Reports said he was shot at least twice on Thursday night, first through the front door of the house and a second time when he lay wounded on the ground.
The Kansas City Star reported the 16-year-old boy, who family members identified online as Ralph Yarl, was hospitalized on Thursday night after he was shot while trying to pick up his younger twin brothers. Police said he went to the wrong house. At a press conference on Sunday, Stacey Graves, chief of the Kansas City police department, defended the release of the unnamed homeowner, citing Missouri law that states a person can be held only 24 hours before being formally charged or released.
Officials would not confirm the number of times the homeowner shot the victim or where his injuries were. But she said her department was working quickly to prepare evidence for the Clay county prosecutor as its felony investigation continued.
Police have not identified the shooter or his race. Information officials had on Sunday did not point to the crime being racially motivated, but Graves said that aspect remained under investigation. “We recognise the frustration this can cause,” Graves said. “I want everyone to know that I am listening, and I understand the concern we are receiving from the community.”
Investigators would consider whether or not the suspect was protected by stand your ground laws, Graves said. Graves acknowledged hundreds of protesters who gathered outside the home where the youth was shot, carrying placards with statements including “Ringing a doorbell is not a crime”.
Police said Yarl was in stable condition but had a life-threatening injury. The police chief said detectives were also looking into whether the homeowner was protected by stand your ground laws, regarding self-defence. She did not confirm how many times Yarl was shot, or where his injuries were.
Graves said the homeowner who allegedly shot the teen was taken into custody and placed on a 24-hour hold. While searching the scene for evidence, detectives found the firearm allegedly used. Law enforcement released the suspect pending further investigation after consulting with the Clay county prosecutor’s office. The civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Yarl’s family, called for the homeowner to be arrested and prosecuted for “this horrendous and unjustifiable shooting”.
Missouri law allows a person to be held up to 24 hours for a felony investigation. At that point, the person must be released or arrested and formally charged. In order to arrest someone, law enforcement needs a formal victim statement, forensic evidence and other information for a case file to be completed. “You can’t just shoot people without having justification when somebody comes knocking on your door, and knocking on your door is not justification. This guy should be charged,” Crump told the Kansas City Star.
Graves said police had not been able to get a victim statement. He also countered Graves’s assertion that while she recognised “racial components” of the incident, “the information we have now does not say that that is racially motivated”. The homeowner’s identity and race were not immediately released.
The mayor, Quinton Lucas, said police understand the community’s concern that the shooting could be racially motivated. He said some members of the department attended a Sunday protest in the neighborhood where the shooting took place. “It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play,” Crump said.
“This is not something that has been dismissed, marginalized or diminished in any way. This is something that is getting the full attention of the Kansas City police department,” Lucas said. According to his family, Yarl, a high school junior with a passion for music, was given the address to pick up his brothers but mistakenly went to a house on 115th Street instead of 115th Terrace and was shot after knocking at the door.
The civil rights attorney Ben Crump told the Star his Florida-based law firm had been retained by the teen’s family. Graves said police had not yet been able to get a victim statement because of Yarl’s injuries.
“You can’t just shoot people without having justification when somebody comes knocking on your door and knocking on your door is not justification. This guy should be charged,” Crump said. Faith Spoonmore, the teen’s aunt, was among protesters on Sunday. She said the homeowner “opened the door, looked my nephew in the eye, and shot him in the head”.
Crump has represented families in high-profile cases including the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. She said he was shot a second time after he fell to the ground, was able to get up and run away, and knocked at three different homes before someone helped him.
He said the homeowner shot the teen in the head and then a second time after the boy fell to the ground. The family has also retained Lee Merritt, a Texas-based civil rights attorney who represented the family of Cameron Lamb, who was fatally shot by a Kansas City detective, Eric DeValkenaere, in 2019. “Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally,” she wrote in a GoFundMe appeal to raise money for medical bills and other expenses.
Crump said based on what he was told by the teen’s family, the shooter was white. By Monday the appeal had surpassed $800,000.
“It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play,” he said. Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, said members of the police department attended the protest to listen to community concerns.
Yarl was meant to pick up his brothers from a friend’s house on 115th Terrace. He ended up ringing the doorbell at a home on 115th Street, Faith Spoonmore, his aunt, wrote online. “This is not something that has been dismissed, marginalised or diminished in any way. This is something that is getting the full attention of the Kansas City police department,” Lucas said.
A man opened the door, saw Yarl and shot him in the head. When Yarl fell, the man shot him again. Yarl got up and ran but had to ask at three homes before someone helped him, Spoonmore said. Police officers said they responded to the area around 10pm. Yarl’s family has also retained Lee Merritt, a Texas-based civil rights attorney who represented the family of Cameron Lamb, a Black citizen fatally shot by a Kansas City detective, Eric DeValkenaere, in 2019 in a traffic stop.
“Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally,” Spoonmore wrote on a GoFundMe page started to raise money for Yarl’s medical bills and other expenses. DeValkenaere was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
The Associated Press contributed to this report