Shooting of Ralph Yarl
The shooting of Ralph Yarl was on April 13, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri. The 16-year-old black teenager was shot twice after ringing the doorbell at the wrong house while dispatched to pick up his twin brothers.
| Shooting of Ralph Yarl | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Date | April 13, 2023 c. 10:00 p.m. (CST) |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Victim | Ralph Yarl (survived) |
| Accused | Andrew Daniel Lester |
| Charges | First-degree assault, armed criminal action |
Andrew Daniel Lester, an 84-year-old white man, was charged on April 17, 2023, with armed criminal action and first-degree assault, the equivalent of attempted murder in Missouri. The Clay County district attorney stated that there was a "racial component" to the shooting. If convicted, Lester faces 10 years to life in prison.
National media attention rose toward this first of four unrelated shootings across the US that week, which were all characterized by young people receiving gunfire for making a harmless mistake. The other three were the killing of Kaylin Gillis in Hebron, New York, after she entered the wrong driveway, the shooting of two cheerleaders in Elgin, Texas, after they entered the wrong car, and the shooting of Kinsley White and her parents in Gastonia, North Carolina, after her basketball rolled into a neighbor's yard.