Activists, police chief respond to shooting of Black teen who pushed the wrong doorbell

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A community is calling for justice after a Black teenager who unintentionally rang the wrong doorbell was shot twice by a white man at the home.

According to The Kansas City Defender, Ralph Yarl, 16, went to the wrong address while trying to pick up his twin brothers in Kansas City, Missouri. He rang the doorbell and was then shot once in the head through the glass door and a second time while he lay bleeding on the ground. 

Family members said Yarl managed to get up and run from the property, stopping at three houses before getting assistance, The Kansas City Star reported.

Yarl’s aunt, Dr. Faith Spoonmore, referred to the incident as a “hate crime” rather than an error. “You don’t shoot a child in the head,” she said, The Defender reported, “because he rang your doorbell.” 

Officers took the unidentified shooter to police headquarters to get his statement but released him with no charges, which left Yarl’s family outraged.

“This man intended to kill an innocent child,” Spoonmore claimed, The Defender reported. “He looked him in the face and shot him, and the individual is free to go about his day as if he did a great deed.”

According to The Star, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said Sunday that the department is trying to ensure the investigation progresses as swiftly as possible to present the case to the Clay County prosecutor.

Graves said law enforcement needs information, including a formal victim statement and forensic evidence, to file a case before making an arrest. She noted that the teen, who was critically wounded, has not yet been able to provide police with such a statement.

Patience Gaye, 33, emigrated to America from Liberia, just like Yarl’s parents. She joined at least 200 others in a peaceful demonstration Sunday in the Northland neighborhood of Kansas City. Expecting her first child, Gaye said she is overcome with a new fear as she watches Yarl’s battle to recover.

“How do you protect a Black kid?” Gaye questioned, according to The Star. “What are we supposed to do now? We left our countries because we don’t want to be killed. … They came to America for a better life. How is this a better life?”

The Yarl family wants help from supporters to raise awareness about the case and the problem of racial violence in America. “The fact that the police said it was an ‘error’ is why America is the way it is,” Spoonmore contended, The Defender reported.

She has set up a GoFundMe effort for Yarl that has raised more than $1 million as of Monday. The crowdfunding platform describes the high school junior as a “fantastic kid” who loves music and has ambitions to visit West Africa before enrolling at Texas A&M University to study chemical engineering. 

“Ralph deserves to have the future that he has dreams about,” the GoFundMe reads. “He deserves to be the light that shows the world that LOVE wins and that humanity is still Good.”

The GoFundMe message notes that even after healing physically, the teenager has a long journey ahead of him mentally. “Life looks a lot different right now,” it reads. 

“The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable,” the effort states, calling him the family’s “miracle.”

“We have heard these types of stories many times,” Spoonmore added, “and unfortunately, most black boys are not alive to get another chance.”

According to The Star, civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt will represent the Yarl family. Crump has defended families in high-profile cases, including those of Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. Merritt represented the families of Ahmaud Arbery and Cameron Lamb, who was shot to death in 2019 by Kansas City detective Eric DeValkenaere.

“It is inescapable,” said Crump, The Star reported, “not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play.”

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