Sixteen-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black, Kansas City, MO, teen, has been released from the hospital and returned home after being shot twice by a homeowner after ringing the wrong doorbell, according to his family, reports the Kansas City Star.
On April 13, Ralph went to pick up his younger twin siblings from a friend’s house and accidentally mixed up the street address names — he went to 115th Street instead of 115th Terrace. After Ralph rang the bell and knocked on the door of the residence, an unnamed man answered and shot him once in the head, then again after he fell down, according to the Yarl family. CNN reports, based on property records and police statements they reviewed, that the homeowner is a white man in his 80s.
After knocking on three more doors seeking help (per Ralph's family and as reported by The Star), Ralph was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds.
According to the New York Times, the shooter was released 24 hours after being taken into custody, the maximum holding time without charges in a felony investigation. Police told the media the case was still under investigation, and the police chief said there was a potential “stand your ground” element under examination; over the last several years, such laws have been used as justification in killings of Black people in multiple noteworthy cases.
In the wake of the shooting, hundreds protested in Kansas City over the weekend, demanding police file charges against the shooter. Protesters, including some of Ralph’s teachers and classmates, expressed outrage over the shooting, eventually marching to the home where Ralph had been shot to peacefully protest.
“Justice is the key," Ralph's father, Paul Yarl, told the Kansas City Star when asked what he wanted from the protests. "I guess the same reason why most people are here. Justice. Peace. I’m with them. I don’t want anything special. I just want justice.”
A GoFundMe that was launched on April 16 by Ralph’s aunt Faith Spoonmore is currently at over $1.6 million in donations; it notes that Ralph is a passionate musician and student with hopes of attending college.
As people took to the streets in Kansas City, celebrities such as Kerry Washington and Halle Berry encouraged those following the story nationwide to contact the local prosecutor to push for appropriate charges against the shooter. Others connected the shooting to the death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, who was shot and killed after knocking on a stranger’s door for help after a car accident in November 2013. (The shooter in that case was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2014; he was resentenced last summer to 15-30 years with credit for time served.)
“Tonight, millions of Black parents across America are going to have ‘The Talk’ again," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement about Ralph's shooting, "this time adding another item to the list: Don’t ring the wrong doorbell. We are angry. We need justice. We need accountability. Our hearts are with 16-year-old Ralph Yarl and his family.”
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