Suspect in custody in Kansas City teenager’s shooting; mom says teen coping well

WATCH: Kansas City faith leaders on Black teen's shooting

By MARGARET STAFFORD and JIM SALTER Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mother of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager shot when he mistakenly went to the wrong Kansas City, Missouri, home to pick up his younger brothers, said her son is crying “buckets of tears” as he comes to grips with what happened to him.

Meanwhile, the 84-year-old man charged in the shooting turned himself in Tuesday at the Clay County Detention Center, the sheriff's office said. 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.

“Ralph is doing considerably well," Cleo Nagbe told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King on Tuesday. "Physically, mornings are hard, but his spirits are in a good place. I borrow from his spirits.”

Nagbe said the trauma remains evident. She said her 16-year-old son 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 shooting happened about 10 p.m. Thursday. Police Chief Stacey Graves said that Yarl’s parents asked him to pick up his twin brothers at a home on 115th Terrace.

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Yarl, an honor student and all-state band member, mistakenly went to 115th Street. When he rang the bell, Lester came to the door and shot Yarl in the forehead — then shot him again, in the right forearm.

Lester told police he lives alone and was “scared to death” when he saw a Black male on the porch and thought someone was trying to break in, according to the probable cause statement.

No words were exchanged before the shooting, but afterward, as Yarl got up to run, he heard Lester yell, “Don’t come around here,” the statement said.

Yarl ran to “multiple” homes asking for help before finding someone who would call the police, the statement said.

James Lynch was the neighbor who found Yarl. Lynch didn’t immediately respond to an interview request but his wife, Tiffany, in a brief interview confirmed an NBC News report that said Lynch heard shouting and saw Yarl banging on the door of another home.

“I heard somebody screaming, ‘Help, help, I’ve been shot!’” Lynch, who is white, told NBC. The father of three ran out and found Yarl covered in blood. Lynch checked his pulse and, when another neighbor came out with towels, helped stem the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

“He just wants the family to know that Ralph wasn’t alone,” Tiffany Lynch said, adding that the action was typical of her husband.

“He helps out anyone he can and always has,” she said.

The shooting outraged many in Kansas City and across the country. Civic and political leaders — including President Joe Biden — demanded justice.

The civil rights attorneys for Yarl’s family, Ben Crump and Lee Merritt, said in a statement that Biden called the teen’s family and offered “prayers for Ralph’s health and for justice.” Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter that “No child should ever live in fear of being shot for ringing the wrong doorbell.”

Thompson said Monday that there was a “racial component” to the shooting. He did not elaborate. But Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Alexander Higginbotham clarified in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday that “there is not a racial element to the legal charges that were filed.”

Still, some — including lawyers for Yarl's family — pressed the racial dimension of the case. A protest rally was planned for Tuesday afternoon, and several civil rights organizations planned a news conference at the rally site.

“The police are not treating this case in the same way Black people accused of murder are treated," Missouri NAACP President Nimrod Chapel Jr. said in a statement. "A Black suspect would have been in jail.”

The assault charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Lester also was charged with armed criminal action, which has a penalty range of three to 15 years in prison.

It wasn't immediately clear if the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating. Messages left with a spokesman were not immediately returned.

Charging Lester with a hate crime would have potentially meant a shorter sentence if he's convicted, experts said.

Washington University School of Law Professor Peter Joy said the state hate crime law is used only to enhance low-level felony or misdemeanor charges, taking them no higher than a class-C felony level, with a penalty range of three to 10 years upon conviction.

“What the prosecutor did was charge (Lester) with the highest degree of felony they could charge him with,” Joy said.

Legal experts believe Lester's lawyers will claim self-defense under Missouri’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The law allows for use of deadly force if a person is in fear for his or her life. Missouri is among roughly 30 states with such statutes.

Robert Spitzer, a professor emeritus of political science at the State University of New York, Cortland, whose research focuses on gun policy and politics, said the Missouri law provides “wide latitude for people to use lethal force.”

St. Louis defense attorney Nina McDonnell agreed. She said prosecutors have a strong case but the Stand Your Ground law defense is a “huge hurdle” to overcome.

“The defendant was in his house and has expressed that he was in fear," McDonnell said.

By Tuesday morning, a GoFundMe page set up for Yarl had raised $2.9 million from 77,000 donations.

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Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri. Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report.