@Kansas City Ralph Yarl

[maudefindlay]

www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/us/kansas-city-teen-shot-wrong-house/index.html

So a black kid cannot even ring a doorbell in this country. Wtf? I hope Ralph can fully physically recover, we know the mental impact on him will not be erased. I hope the fucker who shot him gets locked up for a long time.

[underwaterrhymes]

I lack the words to say how angry I am.

[Bad Dingo]

So much rage, that poor kid will never be the same because of a racist POS and guns.

[seeyalater52]

This is beyond fucked up. I am so sad.

[breezy8407]

Beyond sad and awful. I am so angry.

[estrellita]

I didn't know he had survived when I first read about this. That poor kid and his family. I hope the physical damage is minimal.

I have so many questions about the shooter. Does he answer his door with a gun all the time? Or keep one by the door? Why was it his first instinct to shoot him (I know why but what's his "reasoning")? If this kid HAD been up to something, why would he ring the doorbell? This is a good example to show why guns should NOT be in everyone's hands.

[maudefindlay]

estrellita I read it's being filed as a case of mistaken identity:(

[underwaterrhymes]

Apr 17, 2023 10:35:30 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

estrellita I read it's being filed as a case of mistaken identity:(

That is BULLSHIT.

[seeyalater52]

Apr 17, 2023 10:40:30 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Apr 17, 2023 10:35:30 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

estrellita I read it's being filed as a case of mistaken identity:(

That is BULLSHIT.

Absolute crap. Isn’t that admitting that he was planning to shoot… someone else? You aren’t allowed to go around shooting people! What the fuck!

[pixy0stix]

It's the guns. And racism.

[penguingrrl]

Absolutely fucking horrifying. That asshole should spend the rest of his life rotting in prison. Fuck guns, fuck America, and fuck bullshit defend your castle laws.

[hermione]

I don't know if it's my rage or something else but I cannot even comprehend what happened. Ralph Yarl rang a doorbell and the homeowner opened fire. That's not self defense, that's not stand your ground, that's not...anything except attempted murder.

[neverfstop]

I saw this on social media over the weekend & kept thinking there had to be more to the story....but it's also entirely probably (likely) it happened the way it's being described. I'm shocked but not surprised.
It's outrageous that the home owner has not been identified, at least by police. I'm sure the local news or somebody knows his name. And that he was released from prison....

Between this and the Alabama high school shooting, it was another heartbreaking weekend in America.

[pugz]

The local news is FINALLY reporting on this. It went national thanks to social media before a lot of local news stations would pick it up. That tells you something.

I heard that he was released home today to further recover and that the police will be getting a witness statement from him. Hopefully then they will charge the shooter and arrest him. The family also has a civil rights lawyer helping them now. I saw the letter his school district sent out today and I thought it was on point. Local folks are enraged about this. And I hope there is some kind of justice. And I hope the neighbors that were home and didn't open their door to this kid are also held responsible.

[Poeticxpassion]

Ralph was going to pick up his sibling! Oh, what ulterior motives did he have?! 🙄🙄🙄

I’m glad to see people protesting the fact the shooter hasn’t been charged.

[estrellita]

Apr 17, 2023 10:35:30 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

estrellita I read it's being filed as a case of mistaken identity:(

Wtf?!?! There's no way that's not an attempt to cover his ass. If he was prepped to shoot someone else (which, wtf to also), why did he answer the door? And why would you be planning to shoot someone that rings your doorbell?

[janegold]

This is outrageous and heartbreaking. I don’t care if this guy was old, confused, scared (read: racist), whatever. He owns a gun, he chose to use the gun under circumstances that do NOT appear to be self-defense, he shot a kid not once but twice - this was not an accident and there needs to be consequences.

[lilac05]

Apr 17, 2023 13:26:19 GMT -5 janegold said:

This is outrageous and heartbreaking. I don’t care if this guy was old, confused, scared (read: racist), whatever. He owns a gun, he chose to use the gun under circumstances that do NOT appear to be self-defense, he shot a kid not once but twice - this was not an accident and there needs to be consequences.

Correct. He could have simply…closed the door.

I’m so angry that the shooter was released because a victim statement was required. HE WAS JUST SHOT! So he needed to be conscious and coherent in order for the other guy to be held accountable?? Enraging.

[seeyalater52]

Apr 17, 2023 13:50:35 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Apr 17, 2023 13:26:19 GMT -5 janegold said:

This is outrageous and heartbreaking. I don’t care if this guy was old, confused, scared (read: racist), whatever. He owns a gun, he chose to use the gun under circumstances that do NOT appear to be self-defense, he shot a kid not once but twice - this was not an accident and there needs to be consequences.

Correct. He could have simply…closed the door.

I’m so angry that the shooter was released because a victim statement was required. HE WAS JUST SHOT! So he needed to be conscious and coherent in order for the other guy to be held accountable?? Enraging.

I’m not law enforcement or a lawyer but if they need a victim statement do they just not arrest people who are murderers? It seems like they should have a contingency for the very foreseeable situation that the victim is unable to give a statement (especially when that inability is due to the crime that was committed against them.)

[lilac05]

Apr 17, 2023 14:36:18 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Apr 17, 2023 13:50:35 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Correct. He could have simply…closed the door.

I’m so angry that the shooter was released because a victim statement was required. HE WAS JUST SHOT! So he needed to be conscious and coherent in order for the other guy to be held accountable?? Enraging.

I’m not law enforcement or a lawyer but if they need a victim statement do they just not arrest people who are murderers? It seems like they should have a contingency for the very foreseeable situation that the victim is unable to give a statement (especially when that inability is due to the crime that was committed against them.)

I agree. I cannot figure this out. There’s a LOT of gray area between “able to give a coherent victim statement” and deceased…and I haven’t seen anything today to suggest that this policy takes that into consideration. (I could be wrong on this, but several news articles have blamed the lack of victim statement on why the shooter is out.)

[rhian]

I am so angry and heartbroken over this. When will it stop?

[pugz]

The whole thing is fishy


Shooter is rumored to be an 84 year old man.

[Aloe Vera]

This story is heartbreaking and I hope the shooter will get a serious sentence for attempted murder. He shot him in the head and then in the arm while he was laying down. And then the neighbors. Omg. I doubt anything will happen to them but I hope they feel like absolute shit.

[lilac05]

Apr 17, 2023 16:57:30 GMT -5 pugz said:

The whole thing is fishy


Shooter is rumored to be an 84 year old man.

All the more reason for us to have gun reform. There's no way I can be convinced that race isn't a part of the equation as well, as you can guarantee he would not have shot a 75 year old white woman. However, it is also entirely possible he was confused and scared because someone was at his door at 10:30PM. It is also completely possible that he acted before he could truly process what was going on. His age does affect how I see it vs if it was a 45 year old person. Aging is a bitch. I see it every day at work. People who were previously brilliant surgeons will tell me (Speech Pathologist doing Cognitive-Linguistic testing) that it's safe to walk down the interstate in search of a toll pass that blew out the window and lots of other bizarre things. Fear increases as people age and their ability to think quickly in stressful situations decreases. We begin testing people at a certain age to assess their safety of operating a vehicle. Owning a gun should be no different. 

That's not to say that I'm just writing this off as a cute, helpless little old man who just didn't know any better. I'm definitely not doing that. But I've seen enough professionally to not just chalk it up to a hateful person on a power trip without knowing the details. 

ETA: And regardless of his cognitive status, he should not be released almost immediately! If they’re going to try and say he was just really confused (and also racist), there’s literally testing to show that. That should be required before even considering letting him go home. Because either he’s that confused and shouldn’t be living independently with a gun in the home and he needs to be moved somewhere safe…or he’s not that confused and he goes to jail.

[Deleted]

This is every racist asshole who has ever posted on Nextdoor in response to kids ringing doorbells, “Ring my doorbell and you’ll be at the end of my gun barrel.”

This is not new. May he be held accountable to the maximum amount the law allows.

[NewOrleans]

Apr 17, 2023 16:57:30 GMT -5 pugz said:

The whole thing is fishy


Shooter is rumored to be an 84 year old man.

The article’s been updated to reflect an 85 yo man:

Andrew Lester, an 85-year-old White man, will face charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

"I can tell you there was a racial component to this case," Thompson ;county attorney) said at a news conference without elaborating.

While authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, he is not is custody.



Merritt said the teenager miraculously saved his own life by fleeing and banging on at least three neighbors’ doors for help. (WTF would they not open the door?)

At the third home, Merritt said the neighbor told Yarl to lie on the ground and put his hands in the air. He complied and then passed out, the attorney said.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-city-shooter-exchanged-words-ralph-yarl-opening-fire-teens-atto-rcna80033

How he was finally saved, way down the CNN page. 😭

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, tells CNN she called 911 after Ralph came to her door, bleeding.

She was directed to stay inside her home by the emergency operator, for her safety as the shooter's location was unknown.

"I wanted to help him, but they kept saying that we don't know where the shooter is at," the woman said.

She complied initially, then went outside with towels to help suppress the bleeding.

"I kneeled down next to him, and I said what's your name ... Who shot you?"

She said Ralph explained he "was supposed to pick up my brothers."

"We figured out then he went to the wrong street, which is no excuse for what happened," she said. "This is somebody's child. I had to clean blood off of my door, off of my railing. That was someone's child's blood. I'm a mom ... this is not OK."

While awaiting the ambulance, bleeding from injuries to the left side of his head and his right arm, the neighbor said Ralph told her he runs on the high school track team and plays the bass clarinet in band.

[lilac05]

Apr 17, 2023 17:46:25 GMT -5 @villainv said:

This is every racist asshole who has ever posted on Nextdoor in response to kids ringing doorbells, “Ring my doorbell and you’ll be at the end of my gun barrel.”

This is not new. May he be held accountable to the maximum amount the law allows.

That is also true and another possible situation, opposite of what I posted above.

If we had gun licensing requirements like drivers’ licenses and he had passed, I would 100% feel the same as you.

[bronxgirl]

I'm watching coverage on MSNBC and I'm really aggravated how they keep referring to the shooter as "the homeowner." Now that his identity has been revealed either call him by his name or by what he actually is- the shooter.
I also believe the shooter that he felt scared in the moment. That doesn't excuse his actions, though, just proves how dangerous and irresponsible it is for this man to have a gun. If a grown ass man can't manage his emotions enough in the presence of a minor than he is clearly not qualified to own a firearm. None of this would have happened if he didn't have a damn gun. A loaded gun.

[wawa]

Apr 17, 2023 17:48:20 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Apr 17, 2023 16:57:30 GMT -5 pugz said:

The whole thing is fishy


Shooter is rumored to be an 84 year old man.

The article’s been updated to reflect an 85 yo man:

Andrew Lester, an 85-year-old White man, will face charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

"I can tell you there was a racial component to this case," Thompson ;county attorney) said at a news conference without elaborating.

While authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, he is not is custody.



Merritt said the teenager miraculously saved his own life by fleeing and banging on at least three neighbors’ doors for help. (WTF would they not open the door?)

At the third home, Merritt said the neighbor told Yarl to lie on the ground and put his hands in the air. He complied and then passed out, the attorney said.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-city-shooter-exchanged-words-ralph-yarl-opening-fire-teens-atto-rcna80033

....

this is such small potatoes compared to the bigger themes here (guns, racism) but...no of course they didn't open their doors. We've had conversations on this board more than once where people felt very comfortable stating that they never answer their door if they aren't expecting company.  

I personally find that fucking weird and antisocial, but I am zero percent shocked that people just sat in their houses not answering a knock at night after hearing gunshots.

[NewOrleans]

Apr 17, 2023 23:15:23 GMT -5 wawa said:

Apr 17, 2023 17:48:20 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

The article’s been updated to reflect an 85 yo man:

Andrew Lester, an 85-year-old White man, will face charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

"I can tell you there was a racial component to this case," Thompson ;county attorney) said at a news conference without elaborating.

While authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, he is not is custody.



Merritt said the teenager miraculously saved his own life by fleeing and banging on at least three neighbors’ doors for help. (WTF would they not open the door?)

At the third home, Merritt said the neighbor told Yarl to lie on the ground and put his hands in the air. He complied and then passed out, the attorney said.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-city-shooter-exchanged-words-ralph-yarl-opening-fire-teens-atto-rcna80033

....

this is such small potatoes compared to the bigger themes here (guns, racism) but...no of course they didn't open their doors. We've had conversations on this board more than once where people felt very comfortable stating that they never answer their door if they aren't expecting company.  

I personally find that fucking weird and antisocial, but I am zero percent shocked that people just sat in their houses not answering a knock at night after hearing gunshots.

I wasn’t really asking or shocked, as it’s clearly both cold and racist af to leave an injured Black boy outside.  And I’m certain they saw on their Ring, their Nest, or just out their window.