US man charged with shooting Black teen who rang wrong doorbell

WASHINGTON — Prosecutors in the US state of Missouri have announced felony charges against an elderly white man after he allegedly shot and severely wounded a Black teenager who mistakenly rang his doorbell.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was in critical condition after he was shot twice, once in the head, last Thursday night when he rang the doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his twin brothers from a friend's home nearby.

Outrage rose over the case throughout the weekend, after it was revealed that the homeowner had been released without charges following 24 hours in custody.

However on Monday, Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson announced that the homeowner, identified as Andrew Lester, had been charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

Bail for Lester, whose age was variously given as 84 and 85 by prosecutors and US media, was set at $200,000.

"To pretend that race is not a part of this whole situation would be to have your head in the sand," Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told CNN Tuesday. "This boy was shot because he was existing while black."

The White House announced Monday evening that President Joe Biden had spoken by phone to Yarl "and shared his hope for a swift recovery."

Yarl's aunt, Faith Spoonmoore, said on a GoFundMe campaign that her nephew was a gifted student who dreamed of studying chemical engineering. As of Tuesday morning, the fundraiser had pulled in more than $2.8 million for Yarl.

Deadly shootings are a regular occurrence in the United States, a country of around 330 million people that is awash with an estimated 400 million guns.

But Yarl's case has sparked a particular outcry as the nation continues to grapple with a long history of lack of accountability for violence against African Americans.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a Sunday night press conference that the information at the time "does not say that it's racially motivated" and that the investigation was still active.

"But as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case. I do recognize and understand the community's concern."

Charges were also filed Monday in a similar case in New York state, where a 20-year-old woman was shot dead.

Police in New York state said Kaylin Gillis had been fatally shot by a homeowner on Saturday night when she showed up with three others at the wrong address when trying to find a friend's house.

"While they were leaving the residence after they determined that they were at the wrong house, the subject came out on his porch for whatever reason and fired two shots, one of which struck the vehicle that Kaylin was in," said Jeffrey Murphy, the sheriff of Washington County, where the shooting took place.

The homeowner identified as the person who fired the shots, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, according to the sheriff's office. — Agence France-Presse