An 86-year-old Missouri man has died just days after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake, prosecutors announced Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Andrew Lester of Kansas City was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then-16-year-old, who survived and is now a freshman at Texas A&M. Before his trial was scheduled to begin, he pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of second-degree assault, which carries up to seven years behind bars. He was scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
The news release offered no cause of death. Kansas City police said they weren’t conducting a death investigation. And Sarah Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Clay County sheriff’s office, said she had no information on Lester’s cause of death since he wasn’t in custody, but noted that he was in “poor health” at last week’s plea hearing. Yarl’s family said in a written statement Wednesday that what happened was one of the reasons they had pushed for a speedy trial. “Now, another Black child harmed by prejudice will never see the man who shot him face the full weight of the justice system. While Lester finally admitted guilt, it came at the very last moment—after two years of stalling. That delay leaves our family reeling,” the statement said. The case shocked the country and renewed national debate about gun policies and race in the U.S.
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