According to Missouri police, a little boy was shot and wounded by a homeowner after he went to the incorrect house seeking his siblings.
According to his family’s lawyers and the police, 16-year-old Black Ralph Yarl was shot in the head and arm on Thursday night when he knocked on the wrong house at about 10:00 p.m.
On Sunday, hundreds of protesters marched to the house where Yarl was shot, chanting “Black Lives Matter” in a state where a “stand-your-ground law” allows homeowners to use physical force to defend themselves against suspected intruders.
According to officials and local media, the teen’s parents told him to pick up his twin brothers at 115th Terrace, but he instead proceeded to 115th Street, where he was shot.
According to Police Chief Stacey Graves, the anonymous homeowner was seized, kept for 24 hours for the investigation, and then released pending an interview with Yarl and the collecting of forensic evidence.
Yarl’s family attorneys issued a statement demanding “swift action from Clay County prosecutors and law enforcement to identify, arrest, and prosecute to the full extent of the law the man responsible for this horrifying and unjustifiable shooting.”
Graves was asked whether she felt Yarl’s shooting was racially motivated, and although she was aware of the “racial components” in the case, the information she received did not support that theory.
Before using fatal force to protect oneself or another person from death, substantial bodily harm, or a violent crime, a person must have “a reasonable belief” that such action is necessary under Missouri’s “stand your ground” legislation.
