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Man who shot teenager surrenders to police

  • Andrew Lester said he feared a break-in when he saw Yarl
  • Yarl mistakenly went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings
  • Lester is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action

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(NewsNation) — The elderly man who shot a Black teenager knocking on his door has surrendered in Clay County, Missouri.

Andrew Lester surrendered a day after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Some civil rights leaders urged a hate crime charge, but Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime with a longer sentence — up to life in prison. NewsNation affiliate WDAF reported Lester was 84 years old.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was picking up his siblings and went to the wrong house by mistake. The honors student and band member rang the bell and Lester shot him in the forehead and again in the arm.

The probable cause documents say Lester, who is white and lives alone, stated he was afraid someone was breaking in when he saw a Black male on his porch. Lester didn’t speak to Yarl before shooting him, but the document states he told him not to come around again as Yarl got up and ran to seek help.

Yarl ran to multiple houses before someone who would call for help. James Lynch, a neighbor of Lester’s, found Yarl after hearing him knock on another door. Lynch, who is white, and another neighbor tended to Yarl’s wounds while waiting for first responders.

Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe said her son is recovering but still suffering from the trauma of the shooting.

Nagbe said the trauma remains evident. She said Yarl is “able to communicate mostly when he feels like it, but mostly he just sits there and stares and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes.”

“You can see that he is just replaying the situation over and over again, and that just doesn’t stop my tears either,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Crime

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