(Washington) An octogenarian was charged Monday by the justice of Missouri, in the center of the United States after having seriously wounded by bullets last week a black teenager who had knocked on his door by mistake, announced the local prosecutor.
Andrew Lester, an 85-year-old white man, has been charged with two felony counts, one of which carries life in prison, Clay County District Attorney Zachary told a news conference. Thompson.
A warrant was issued and his bail was set at $200,000.
Sixteen-year-old Ralph Paul Yarl, who was shot in the head by the gunman, is recovering “despite the severity of his injuries,” according to one of his family’s attorneys, Lee Merritt, as quoted by ABC News.
The teenager was picking up his twin brothers from a friend’s house on April 13 in Kansas City, a large metropolis in Missouri, when he rang the wrong doorbell of a house. His landlord shot the teenager through a glass door, his aunt, Faith Spoonmoore, said.
She described Ralph Paul Yarl as a smart, friendly kid with dreams of studying chemical engineering.
“The information we currently have does not say that [the act] was racially motivated, the investigation is still ongoing. But as chief of police, I recognize the racial components to this case,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said Sunday at a press conference.
This case caused a stir across the country.
President Joe Biden spoke on the phone with the teenager on Monday, and “shared his hope for a speedy recovery,” the White House said.
Protesters gathered outside the home where the teenager was injured on Sunday and demanded that the shooter be tried for a racial crime, Kansas City radio station KCUR reported.
“My heart was completely broken when I learned” of the teenager’s fate, actress Halle Berry tweeted, calling on the prosecutor to take action.
Deadly shootings occur regularly in the United States, a country of approximately 330 million people and replete with approximately 400 million firearms.
In upstate New York on the east coast, authorities announced on Monday that a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed while driving her car after she mistakenly turned into the driveway of a house.
The 65-year-old homeowner, who allegedly fired the shots, was arrested on Monday and charged with non-premeditated murder, the Washington County Sheriff said at a news conference.
