Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old boy from Kansas City, Missouri, was shot in the head after accidentally ringing the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger siblings on Thursday, 13 April 2023.
What happened to Ralph Yarl?
As reported by KSHB Yarl is currently recovering in a local hospital and, according to his aunt, Dr Faith Spoonmore, who provided updates on the teen during peaceful protests held in the community on Sunday, her nephew is “alive and healing.”
At a media conference on Sunday, 16 April 2023, Kansas City Police Department Chief Stacey Graves confirmed the shooting took place on the evening of Thursday, 13 April 2023, and that the rogue gun-wielder, a man only identified as “a white assailant”, was taken into custody and placed on a 24-hour investigative hold.
However, Chief Graves explained, state law allows for a 24-hour hold in felony investigations, and in this case, the prosecutor requires more information from investigators that would take more than the holding period to compile.
Missouri state laws indicate that after 24 hours, individuals are required to be charged or released.
Moreover, as reported by Complex, Yarl’s family is represented by civil rights attorneys Lee Merritt and Ben Crump, who issued a joint statement demanding the arrest and prosecution of the shooter.
According to Yarl’s lawyers, the shooter should not have been released, given the circumstances of the incident.
“There can be no excuse for the release of this armed and dangerous suspect after admitting to shooting an unarmed, non-threatening and defenceless teenager that rang his doorbell.
“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,” Merritt and Crump said in their joint statement.
Celebrities have since taken to social media calling for justice to be served against the Yarl’s shooter. Here are a few reactions we picked out: