One Mistake in America Gets You Shot

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Lee Merritt via REUTERS

Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old who was shot and wounded by a homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong house to pick up his siblings, holds a bass clarinet in this picture obtained from social media. Lee Merritt/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. ONLY FOR EDITORIAL PURPOSES.

Emily Guzman-Solares, Class of 2026, Contributor

Daily we all watch as the headlines are filed, news is interrupted, sirens go off. All to inform America that once again yet another gun has gone off and ended another dozen lives.

To be a black child in America means you can’t make the simple mistake of ringing the wrong doorbell without having hell to pay.

Children all over America are pleading for their lives while adults want to “protect themselves with guns!”

84 year old-homeowner Andrew Lester is the shooter and the reason why Ralph Yarl, a young black teen only 16 years old, is still recovering from deadly injuries.

On April 13 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri a few hours before midnight Ralph Yarl had been asked to pick his sibling up and he was sent the wrong address.

Mistaking 115th Terrace for 115th Street Ralph rang the doorbell. Andrew then opened the main door and a few seconds after shot Ralph once though his exterior storm door. Andrew Lester then shot Ralph again to make sure he was dead. Ralph was shot in the left side of his forehead and right arm. Andrew Lester was arrested and released on bail a day after.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, tells CNN she called 911 after Ralph came to her door, bleeding. The woman had been told to stay inside by the emergency operator for her own safety because the shooter’s location was unknown. She had gone inside to get towels to try and stop the bleeding.

She also told CNN this “We figured out then he went to the wrong street, which is no excuse for what happened,” she said. “This is somebody’s child. I had to clean blood off of my door, off of my railing. That was someone’s child’s blood. I’m a mom … this is not OK.”