By Kansas City: High-profile attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt, who has agreed to handle the case, said on Sunday that Ralph Paul Yarl, 16, is in serious condition after being shot twice and wounded in the head by a white man last week in Kansas City.
According to a letter from Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmoore, on a GoFundMe page for his medical costs and treatment, Yarl was picking up his twin brothers from a friend’s house on Thursday when he rang the wrong doorbell and was shot by the homeowner through a glass door.
The story has received national attention and sparked outrage from celebrities and activists on the streets of Kansas City and online.
According to Kansas City public broadcaster KCUR 89.3, demonstrators gathered in front of the residence where Yarl is thought to have been shot on Sunday and requested that the owner be charged with a hate crime.
The homeowner was released from detention after spending 24 hours there, according to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves, who also stated that no charges would be filed until the victim provided a statement.
The information we now have does not indicate that it was motivated by race; that inquiry is still ongoing, according to Graves.
Yet I am aware of the racial aspects of this case as the police chief. I do acknowledge and comprehend the community’s worry.
Police are working “as quickly and thoroughly as we can,” according to Graves.
In the United States, a nation of around 330 million people with an estimated 400 million guns, deadly shootings occur frequently.
Four people were murdered and at least 28 others, mostly teenagers, were injured in a shooting at a birthday celebration on Saturday in the state of Alabama.
