The family of Ralph Yarl, the Black teen who was shot in the head after ringing the doorbell at the wrong house in St. Louis last year, has filed a lawsuit against the gunman and the local homeowner’s association.
The suit accuses Andrew Lester, the shooter, and the Highland Acres Homes Association, Inc. of “careless and negligent conduct.”
The 17-year-old boy survived the April 2023 shooting and Lester, 85, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He is set to go on trial in October.
KMBC via AP, Pool
Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in Liberty, Mo. (KMBC via AP, Pool)
Yarl — an honor student and all-state band member, who was 16 at the time of the shooting — was shot at Lester’s home after ringing the doorbell while trying to pick up his younger brothers who were at a nearby residence with a similar address.
Lester called police, claiming he shot the boy because he was scared.
The family says Yarl never received a verbal warning and that Lester should have seen Yarl wasn’t a threat.
The suit also accuses the homeowner’s association of allegedly failing to do enough to prevent the attack since it was aware of Lester’s “propensity for violence, access to dangerous weapons and racial animus.”
In March, upstate New York man Kevin Monahan was sentenced for second-degree murder for the shooting death of Kaylin Gillis who was in a car that mistakenly drove onto Monahan’s driveway before turning around before Monahan fired at the vehicle.
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