Ralph Yarl mistakenly went to Andrew D. Lester’s home, his family said. Lester is charged with shooting the teenager in the head and arm. (Image of Yarl: GoFundMe; mugshot of Lester: Kansas City Police Department via AP)
The mother of a boy who was shot in the head at 16 years old after ringing the wrong doorbell just over a year ago is suing the Kansas City, Missouri, man facing charges, claiming the shooting was completely unprovoked and that the suspect had “racial animus.”
The lawsuit filed Monday in Clay County Circuit Court seeks to hold both Andrew Lester, 85, and his homeowners association accountable for the life-altering shooting.
Ralph Yarl, early 18 and identified only as P.R.Y. in the lawsuit, “posed no threat to anyone” and was only looking to bring his two brothers, twins, home from a nearby friend’s house on April 13, 2023, when he “mistakenly and inadvertently” rang Lester’s doorbell — only to be shot “multiple times” by the resident “without warning or provocation,” documents said.
“As a direct and proximate results of the gunshots fired by Andrew Lester,” documents said, Yarl was “severely injured and suffered bodily injury, emotional, psychological, and physiological injury and damages.”
The lawsuit alleged that Lester was careless, negligent, or both in shooting Yarl, and in several ways, including by failing to saying nothing to Yarl before opening fire, failing to warn the teen, and failing to help the minor he shot twice.
Yarl “suffered and sustained permanent injuries, endured pain and suffering of temporary and permanent nature, experienced disability and losses of normal life activities,” and was forced to “spend large sums of money for medical care and attention,” the lawsuit said.
But plaintiff Cleo Nagbe, suing on her son’s behalf, also alleged that Highland Acres Homes Association, Inc., should be liable for the same, since it either knew or should have known that Lester had a “propensity for violence,” had “access to dangerous weapons,” and had “racial animus” against Yarl, who is Black.
“On information and belief, Defendant, Highland Acres Homes Association Inc., failed to warn” Yarl “of the known danger posed by” Lester, the petition said.
After the shooting, attorney S. Lee Merritt, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said that Yarl was “shot in the head by a white man who didn’t want him on his property.”
“He shot him a 2nd time for emphasis,” Merritt said.
Lester reportedly admitted during a 911 call that he shot Yarl while “scared to death” and under the belief that a home break-in was afoot. First-degree assault and armed criminal action charges followed, but the case won’t go to trial until October.
As Yarl ran for his life, Lester allegedly said, “Don’t come around here.”
Lester’s attorney Steven Salmon has reportedly not yet commented on the lawsuit, and neither has the Highland Acres Homes Association.
Read the lawsuit here.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
