Andrew Lester, the man who shot Black teenager Ralph Yarl after he mistakenly rang his doorbell, has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.
Lester, then 84 years old, shot Yarl twice in April 2023 when the 16-year-old arrived at his house believing it was where he needed to pick up his siblings. Lester was originally facing two felony charges — first-degree assault and armed criminal action — to which he initially pleaded not guilty. Those charges have now been dropped.
Lester now faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. He will be sentenced on March 7, where Yarl and his mother Cleo Nagbe will likely deliver victim impact statements, Fox 4 Kansas City reports.
“We trust in the truth, and we trust in justice,” Yarl and Nagbe said in a statement to Fox 4 following Lester’s plea. “But real change happens when people take a hard look at their own biases and choose to do better. We hope this case sparks conversations that lead to action—because no child should have to suffer.”
Yarl arrived at Lester’s Kansas City home nearly two years ago because he did not have his phone and couldn’t remember the exact address he was given to pick up his twin siblings, he said in court.
When someone answered, Yarl explained he reached for the house’s storm door, thinking the homeowners were his “brothers’ friends’ parents.”
That’s when Lester said shot Yarl, first in the head as he told the teen, “don’t come here ever again.” Lester Yarl in the arm. The bullet did not hit Yarl’s brain, but did knock him to the ground.
More to come…
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