Ralph Yarl Protests as Black Teen Shot After Turning Up at Wrong Address

Protesters gathered in Kansas City, Missouri, to demand the arrest and prosecution of a homeowner who shot a Black teenager who rang his doorbell.

The 16-year-old boy, identified by family members as Ralph Yarl, was hospitalized on Thursday night after mistakenly turning up at the wrong address while going to pick up his younger twin brothers, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his aunt, Faith Spoonmore, on Sunday.

"He pulled into the driveway and rang the doorbell. The man in the home opened the door, looked my nephew in the eye, and shot him in the head," Spoonmore wrote on the page. "My nephew fell to the ground, and the man shot him again."

Yarl got up and ran, but had to ask at three different homes before someone agreed to help "after he was told to lie on the ground with his hands up," Spoonmore wrote.

Police and Yarl's family said the teen had been asked by a parent to pick up his brothers from an address on 115th Terrace, but he had gone to a residence on 115th Street instead.

Police initially said Yarl was in a stable condition but had a life-threatening injury, The Kansas City Star reported.

"Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally," Spoonmore wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The shooting prompted anger, and at least 200 people marched in Kansas City's Northland on Sunday, calling for the shooter to be arrested and charged with a hate crime, the newspaper reported.

Authorities have not confirmed the number of times the teenager was shot, or identified the shooter or his race.

Police Chief Stacey Graves said her department is working to quickly prepare evidence in the case for the Clay County prosecutor.

"I want everyone to know that I am listening and I understand the concern we are receiving from the community," Graves said at a news conference on Sunday.

Kansas City police officers responded to the incident at around 10 p.m. on Thursday.

She said the homeowner who allegedly shot the teenager was taken into custody on Thursday and placed on a 24-hour investigative hold.

Detectives recovered the firearm allegedly used in the shooting while searching the scene for evidence, she said.

She noted that Missouri law allows a person to be held up to 24 hours for a felony investigation. At that point, they must be released or arrested and formally charged.

"After consulting with the Clay County Prosecutor's Office, the homeowner was released pending further investigation due to the need to obtain a formal statement from the victim, forensic evidence and compile additional information for a case file to be presented," Graves said.

Police have not been able to get a victim statement yet because of the teen's injuries, she said.

"Detectives have been working over the past several days to compile a detailed case file so they have all the information they need to make the best charging decision on the case moving forward," she said. "We want the community to know that we are committed to justice in this case, and every case and work every day to seek that justice for all victims of all crimes."

According to The Star, information that officials have now does not point to the crime being racially motivated, but Graves said it remains under investigation. Investigators also will consider whether or not the suspect was protected within the Stand Your Ground laws, Graves said.

Yarl's family will be represented by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt.

"There can be no excuse for the release of this armed and dangerous suspect after admitting to shooting an unarmed, non-threatening and defenseless teenager that rang his doorbell," the attorneys said in a statement. "We demand swift action from Clay County prosecutors and law enforcement to identify, arrest and prosecute to the full extent of the law the man responsible for this horrendous and unjustifiable shooting."

Crump has represented the families in a number of high-profile cases including those of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, while Texas-based Merritt has previously represented the family of Cameron Lamb, who was fatally shot by Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere in 2019.

Crump told The Star on Sunday that the shooter is white, based on what he was told by the teen's family.

"It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play," he said.