Nearly two years after Clay County prosecutors filed charges against Andrew Lester in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, he has admitted his guilt. The 86-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree assault on Friday.

Kansas City, Missouri, activists and the family of the now-18-year-old Black teen, who was shot in the head by Lester, were frustrated by the investigation and outraged that it took so long for the shooter to be charged.

Police initially questioned Lester after the April 13, 2023, shooting. But he was released after 24 hours — which outraged the community and Yarl’s family. He was charged four days later.

As part of a plea agreement, Lester now faces a maximum of seven years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Prior to this, he faced a potential sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors have recommended a five-year prison term for Lester. They initially said there was a “racial component,” but did not elaborate.

“This case centers on the reasonableness of actions taken, not the right to self-defense,” said Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson in a press release announcing Lester’s guilty plea. “While we support homeowners’ rights to protect themselves, shooting an unarmed teenager through a locked door exceeds reasonable bounds. Ralph made an innocent mistake, and the consequences — being shot twice — far exceeded any reasonable response.”

Victim impact statements are expected to be given at Lester’s sentencing, which is scheduled for March 7. Lester will also have an opportunity to give a statement.

Ralph’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said in a video at the time of the shooting: “All I can think is if that was a Black man that had shot a white kid, would that Black man be standing in front of his house cleaning up.” She added, “We don’t need to wait for Black boys to die for us to say enough is enough.”

“It is not enough to conduct an investigation; we must take a critical look at the root causes of violence in our communities and address the deep-seated issues of racial inequality that fuel it,” a spokesperson from Decarcerate KC, a grassroots community group, said in a statement to Capital B at the time of the incident.

In April 2023, the then-16-year-old drove a few blocks away from his home to pick up his two younger brothers from a friend’s house but arrived at the wrong address and rang the doorbell. According to his aunt, “a man opened up the door, looked him in the eye and … shot him in the head.”

Ralph’s shooting is reminiscent of previous incidents where Black people have been killed by white people. The investigative details of Ralph’s case are eerily similar to the October 2022 shooting death of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed in Columbus, Ohio. Krieg Allen Butler, the suspect in Sinzae’s case, admitted to the shooting but was released days later by investigators once prosecutors learned that Butler said he was acting in self-defense.

Ohio’s “stand your ground” laws have frustrated members of Sinzae’s family and community, as Butler has not been charged in connection with the teenager’s death. Butler pleaded guilty to weapon charges on Nov. 30 and was sentenced to six months in jail.

In Ralph’s shooting, Kansas City police took the shooter into custody as they processed the evidence at the scene in the Northland neighborhood.

Missouri law requires suspects to be released from custody if there isn’t enough information collected by investigators to charge them, said Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves at a press conference at the time. After consulting with Clay County prosecutors, the shooter was released because they needed a statement from Ralph, who was recovering from his injuries.

Local activist Bishop Tony Caldwell is unsure the police department as a whole isn’t operating through a racially biased lens.

“It is appalling to me. Here is a young man who is fighting for his life, and they just let the shooter go. … It’s apparent that we pick and choose who to prosecute and who not to prosecute, who to take to jail and who not to take to jail,” said Caldwell, founder of the Justice and Dignity Center.

“There is a lot of tension in Kansas City in the Black community right now. Race relations are at an all-time low with people of color, [as] brown skin is being misused, attacked, persecuted, and murdered,” said Caldwell, who is calling on the Justice Department to launch a pattern and practice investigation on the police department and prosecutor office for targeting and ignoring the Black community.

The spokesperson for Decarcerate KC says Ralph’s shooting depicts the systemic racism of the police department that “runs deep in our neighborhoods” and goes beyond this case.

“This tragedy serves as a reminder that police do not serve and protect Black people. A system designed to protect white supremacy can never be held accountable,” the spokesperson said on behalf of the organization, which focuses on changing issues within the incarceration and policing systems in Kansas City.

Civil rights attorneys S. Lee Merritt and Ben Crump took on Ralph’s case pro bono. Crump described Ralph as a “non-threatening, and defenseless teenager” in a previous statement.

“This attack on an unarmed Black teen demanded accountability — no one should have to fear for their life just for knocking on a door,” Crump wrote on his Instagram account on Feb. 14 after Lester’s guilty plea.

The People’s Coalition, a local activist group, organized a “mass protest” in the city’s Northland neighborhood, where the shooting took place, and dozens of residents showed up calling for justice, according to the Kansas City Defender.

What happened to the rising star?

Ralph is described by his teachers and friends as “‘a kind soul, quiet, friendly, well-mannered, always willing to help, super smart, and a musical genius,’” according to a GoFundMe campaign that Spoonmore, his aunt, launched to cover his expected medical bills and mental health treatments as well as his higher education goals.

Although Ralph is a top bass clarinet player, his ultimate goal is to obtain a music scholarship to Texas A&M University to study chemical engineering, Spoonmore wrote about Ralph, who she calls “a fantastic kid.”

A week before the shooting, Ralph’s mother gave him driving directions on where to pick up his twin little brothers from their friend’s house that was located a few blocks away from their home. According to FOX4KC, Ralph was supposed to go to a home on NE 115th Terrace, but instead drove to a home a block over on NE 115th Street. When the teen rang the doorbell, no words were exchanged between the homeowner and Ralph when Ralph was shot once in the head through the patio door, according to the probable cause documents.

Lester told police that he armed himself with a gun when he heard the doorbell after 11 p.m. He was “scared to death” when he saw a 6-foot tall Black man standing outside his front door and thought he was trying to break in, according to Lester’s statement to police.

As Ralph stumbled to the ground, the shooter allegedly fired a second shot into his arm. Lester said that within seconds of opening the door, he fired two rounds. As Ralph fled, Lester allegedly said “don’t come around here,” according to Ralph’s statements. Ralph miraculously was able to get away from the assailant and get help from a neighbor.

“Unfortunately, he had to run to 3 different homes before someone finally agreed to help him after he was told to lie on the ground with his hands up,” Spoonmore wrote on the campaign page.

Spoonmore says the shooter attempted to kill her nephew because he was a Black person on his property. Caldwell says that if the shooter evokes the state’s stand your ground law as his reason for shooting Ralph, it should not be taken seriously.

“This kid was 120 pounds soaking wet, and you’re in fear of your life? We don’t believe that. This was a clear racial shooting. He saw an opportunity and he took it, and he needs to be brought to justice,” Caldwell said.

While Ralph’s life may look different going forward, he is their family’s “miracle.”
“We have heard these types of stories many times, and unfortunately, most black boys are not alive to get another chance,” Spoonmore wrote.

This story has been updated.