The shooting of a Black teenager who rung the wrong doorbell is making people angry
The shooting of a teenage student in Kansas City, Missouri, ended with a life-threatening injury and a firearm in a home, according to a media release
A teenager was shot and wounded by a homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings in Kansas City, Missouri, police said Sunday.
The teenager was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said. The homeowner was taken into custody. There was a firearm found at the scene.
According to the statement from the civil rights attorneys, the teen is a 16-year-old high school junior.
The homeowner was arrested and placed on a hold, but was later released because he had to get a formal statement from the victim in order to investigate further.
Under Missouri state law, a person can be held for up to 24 hours for investigation of a felony, at which time they are required to be charged or released, Graves said at the press conference.
Protesters held signs stating that ringing a doorbell is not a crime and that the shooter should do the time, footage from CNN affiliate KMBC shows.
“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,” the statement from the victim’s attorneys read.
The police chief said that the information he had was not enough to say that the shooting was racially motivated. That’s still an active investigation. But as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case.”
We recognize that this can cause a lot of frustration in the criminal justice process. Graves said that the women and men of Kansas City Police Department are working to ensure the criminal justice process progresses as quickly as possible.
Yarl, the bass clarinet, and his aunt, Kamala Harris, for a safe house: The shooting at a doorbell didn’t stop
A GoFundMe started by Faith Spoonmore, who identified herself as Yarl’s aunt, to help the family raise money for medical expenses had garnered more than $529,000 in donations as of Sunday night.
Yarl had been looking forward to graduating high school and visiting West Africa before starting college, where he hopes to major in chemical engineering, his aunt wrote in the fundraiser.
The teen is a section leader in a marching band and could often be found with a musical instrument in hand, Spoonmore wrote. Most recently, Yarl earned Missouri All-State Band honorable mention for playing the Bass Clarinet, according to a North Kansas City Schools’ newsletter in February.
“Life looks a lot different right now. Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally. The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable, according to the GoFundMe post.
The shooting of a black teenager in Kansas City has sparked protests nationwide, with the family saying he came to the wrong address to pick up his siblings.
In a statement on Sunday, the attorneys for Yarl’s family demanded swift action to identify, arrest and prosecute the shooter.
They said that there couldn’t be an excuse for the release of the dangerous suspect, who admitted to shooting a teenager at a doorbell.
The circumstances of the shooting that happened with pictures of a student with his bass clarinet and older siblings, sparked an emotional response on social media. By Monday, even the vice president had weighed in.
“Let’s be clear: No child should ever live in fear of being shot for ringing the wrong doorbell,” Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter. Every child has a right to be safe.
Racial-Character-Motivation Induced Shooting of a Black Teen During a Trip to a House in Kansas City
According to Yarl’s family, the teenager was planning to pick up his younger siblings from a friend’s house. But he drove to the wrong address, his family says, confusing 115th Street for 115th Terrace.
“He parked in the driveway, went up to the door and rang the doorbell,” his aunt Faith Spoonmore said in a video posted to social media. “The man inside opened up the door and shot him in the head through the glass door. When Raphael was on the ground, he shot him again.” Those details were repeated Sunday by Lee Merritt, a civil rights lawyer representing Yarl’s family.
Yarl’s family and lawyers have said that the shooter is white. Graves said Sunday that the information police currently have does not suggest that the shooting was “racially motivated,” though she acknowledged the presence of “racial components” at play in the case.
Graves said that police decided to let the shooter go because they needed a formal statement from the patient who remains hospitalized.
The teen’s injuries allow for a formal statement to be made. “We recognize the frustration this can cause in the entire criminal justice process.”
“We are actively working with law enforcement in an attempt to speed up that process so that we can review the file when it is submitted and determine whether criminal charges are appropriate,” Thompson said in a statement. “We ask the public to trust the system to achieve a just result.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1170479923/ralph-yarl-kansas-city-teen-shooting
Stand Your Ground: The story of Aaron Yarl and the outburst of a Missouri gunman to prosecute the shooter
Missouri is among the 38 states with a Stand Your Ground law, a criminal defense doctrine that allows people to use physical force if they “reasonably believe” they are under threat, with no duty to retreat. A resident in the state can use deadly force against someone who enters their home.
Yarl’s achievements were documented on social media, including an invitation to travel to Europe with other Missouri students as a result of his honorable mention by the All-State Band.
The Yarl story spread widely on social media over the weekend. Halle Berry, Kerry Washington and other stars encouraged their followers to send letters to the local prosecutors to urge them to prosecute the shooter.
