An 86-year-old Kansas City man is pleading guilty to the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl a Black honor student who rang the man’s doorbell by mistake. Andrew Lester was scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then 16-year-old, who survived and has since graduated from high school, the Associated Press reports. A source said Lester is pleading to a lesser charge of second-degree assault. Yarl showed up on Lester’s doorstep after he mixed up the streets where he was supposed to pick up his twin siblings. Lester’s attorney, Steve Salmon, has long argued that Lester was acting in self-defense and was terrified by the stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed.
The shooting helped renew the national debate about gun policies and race. Yarl testified at a hearing that he rang the bell and then waited for someone to answer for what seemed “longer than normal.” As the inner door opened, Yarl said, he reached out to grab the storm door. “I assume these are my brothers’ friends’ parents,” he said. He said Lester, who is white, shot him in the head and said, “Don’t come here ever again.” Although the bullet didn’t penetrate Yarl’s brain, the impact knocked him to the ground. Yarl said Lester then shot him in the arm. The teen spend three days in a hospital. His family said the shooting took a big emotional toll and has sued the retired aircraft mechanic. As Lester’s trial date approached, the court shut down access to online records in the case, so prospective jurors could not see or read any of the documents available to the public. Salmon said that Lester’s physical and mental condition had deteriorated. He has had heart issues, a broken hip and hospitalizations. Lester also has lost 50 pounds, which Salmon blamed on the stress of intense media coverage and death threats he received.
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