A black US teenager who was shot twice after ringing the wrong doorbell has an invitation to the White House once he has recovered, US President Joe Biden promised on Tuesday, as the suspected shooter, an elderly white man, surrendered to authorities.
Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice, once in the head, on Thursday last week in Missouri, after going to the wrong house at night while trying to pick up his twin brothers.
Biden slammed the incident as another example of the US’ failure to deal with gun violence.
Photo: AFP
“No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell. We’ve got to keep up the fight against gun violence,” Biden wrote on Twitter, saying that he had spoken with Yarl and his family the night before.
“And Ralph, we’ll see you in the Oval once you feel better,” Biden added.
The suspected shooter, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, was charged on Monday with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action, local prosecutor Zachary Thompson said.
Lester turned himself in on Tuesday, a Clay County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said.
He was released later in the day on a bail of US$200,000, a spokesperson said later.
Lester said he thought the teen was trying to break into his house, and shot him through the glass storm door, court documents said.
Outrage had risen over the case throughout the weekend, after it was revealed that Lester had initially been released without charges following 24 hours in custody.
“To pretend that race is not a part of this whole situation would be to have your head in the sand,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told CNN on Tuesday. “This boy was shot because he was existing while black.”
Yarl was released from hospital and continuing to recover at home, his mother, Cleo Nagbe, told CBS on Tuesday.
“He went and rang the doorbell, and he was supposed to stay outside, and his brothers were supposed to run outside, get in the car and they come home,” Nagbe said. “While he was standing there, his brothers didn’t run outside, but he got a couple of bullets in his body instead of a couple of twins coming up, out and giving him a hug.”
Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmoore, said on a GoFundMe campaign that her nephew was a gifted student who dreamed of studying chemical engineering.
The fundraiser had received nearly US$3 million for Yarl by Tuesday afternoon.
Deadly shootings are a regular occurrence in the US, a country of about 330 million people that is awash with an estimated 400 million guns.
However, Yarl’s case has sparked a particular outcry as the nation continues to grapple with a long history of lack of accountability for violence against African Americans.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told a news conference on Sunday night that the information at the time “does not say that it’s racially motivated” and that the investigation was still active.
“But as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case. I do recognize and understand the community’s concern,” Graves said.
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