Family of RALPH YARL, teenager shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, files civil suit

Wednesday May 1, 2024 – The family of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot in April 2023 after going to the wrong house in Kansas City, Missouri, has filed a lawsuit against the white homeowner who shot him.

The lawsuit, filed by Yarl’s mother Cleopatra Nagbe in Clay County Circuit Court, accuses 85-year-old Andrew Lester of being careless when he shot Yarl in the head and arm without warning on April 13, 2023.

Yarl, who was 16 at the time, was seriously injured and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“At all times, Plaintiff (Ralph Yarl) never made a threat against Defendant, Andrew Lester,” the lawsuit states. “At no time relevant to the circumstances giving rise to this lawsuit did the plaintiff (Ralph Yarl) do anything to cause the defendant, Andrew Lester, to brandish a firearm at him.”

Yarl’s family is also suing Lester’s homeowners association, Highland Acres Homes Association, claiming the association knew or should have known of Lester’s “propensity for violence, access to dangerous weapons and racial hostility,” according to the court case. The lawsuit alleged that the association had a duty to exercise reasonable care “with respect to the use of a firearm in and on the property comprising the association.”

Lester was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Lest pleaded not guilty to the charges in April 2023, but the case was moved to state Circuit Court for trial because the county’s lower court cannot try felonies. He again pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2023 and the trial was scheduled to begin on October 7, 2024.