Ralph Yarl was shot at point blank after trying to pick up his younger brothers at the wrong address.
Kansas City residents are calling for the recovery of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl. On the evening of Thursday, April 13, the high school junior was shot upon ringing the doorbell of the wrong house while attempting to pick up his younger brothers. Instead of going to a friend’s house with the address 115th Terrace, Yarl mistakenly went to a home on 115th Street. While there, Yarl was shot twice in the head and arm by an unidentified white man after ringing the doorbell.
“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,” reads Yarl’s GoFundMe page
Yarl, who managed to flee the scene, attempted to get help at three different neighboring homes before someone assisted him.
“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 family said.
Kansas City police responded to reports of a shooting in the area and arrived to find Yarl outside of a residence with gunshot wounds. On Sunday (April 16), Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said that Yarl has been unable to give an official statement due to his injuries. Graves also claimed that there has been no evidence to show that the shooting was racially motivated.
Protesters and civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt have speculated otherwise, as Yarl’s alleged shooter was released after a 24-hour hold under Missouri state law.
“There can be no excuse for the release of this armed and dangerous suspect after admitting to shooting an unarmed, non-threatening, and defenseless teenager that rang his doorbell,” the attorneys said in a joint statement.
“We demand swift action from Clay County prosecutors and law enforcement to identify, arrest and prosecute to the full extent of the law the man responsible for this horrendous and unjustifiable shooting.”