A Missouri teen who was shot in the head by an 84-year-old man after accidentally knocking on his door is raising money for traumatic brain injury.
Ralph Yarl, now 17, was shot in the forehead in April after going to the wrong address when he went to pick up his younger twin brothers from their friend’s house.
Yarl, who is black, knocked on the door of Andrew Lester, a white man, who shot him twice with a revolver. Lester was released on bail and awaits trial after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
On Monday, Yarl’s family attended Kansas City’s annual Going the Distance for Brain Injury Run, which raises money for people with brain injuries.
Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, told ABC News on Friday that her cousin was “ready to get his life back” but that “it’s not that easy.”
Ralph Yarl (center), who was shot in the head by an 84-year-old man after accidentally knocking on his door, is pictured on Monday during a run to raise money for traumatic brain injury
Yarl (center) will be photographed with family on Monday. He received a medal on Monday after completing a 1.5-mile walk
Andrew Lester, 84, shot Ralph Yarl twice with a revolver, in the forehead and arm. He has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action and is out on bail pending trial
“Ralph has always been the type of kid who prefers to be alone,” Spoonmore said.
“Now you see him and he’s alone, but he’s not doing the things he used to like, and it’s like he’s a shell. And that’s the problem, it’s that there’s something missing in him.
“He’s 17 and ready to get his life back. He is ready to go back to school. He’s ready to make music again. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It’s not like a page you can just turn and go back.’
The fundraiser Yarl attended Monday was formerly called the Amy Thompson Run — named after a local 23-year-old who was shot twice in the head in an attempted robbery in 1986, Fox 4 reported.
She survived after multiple surgeries and a six-week coma, but died unexpectedly a few years later. The event raises money to help fund the non-profit Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City.
Yarl received a medal after completing a 1.5 mile walk, KSHB reported. His mother told the outlet that his recovery has not been easy.
“Brain injury is a process – it’s not an event, it takes time,” said his mother Cleo Nagbe.
There are emotional ups and downs. You have their concentration problems, you have their “I want to stay in my room all day,” you have all of that. So it takes a community, it takes a family, it takes a support group — all of that is necessary.”
Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice in the head by a white man after accidentally approaching the wrong house when he went to pick up his siblings
Ralph Yarl told police he had not crossed the border to Lester’s home, and prosecutors said there was no evidence that words were exchanged before he was shot.
The shooting occurred on April 13 when Yarl accidentally went to Northeast 115th Street instead of Northeast 115th Terrace – one block apart – in northern Kansas City.
The teen approached the door but did not step “over the threshold” into the home, prosecutors said.
Lester allegedly opened the door and fired two .32-caliber bullets from a revolver that struck Yarl in the forehead and arm. Prosecutors said there was no evidence that words were exchanged.
Lester told a police officer after the shooting that he saw a black man “pulling the outside handle of the storm door” and that he thought the person was trying to break in.
Yarl was interviewed by a detective in which he said he only rang the doorbell and did not pull the door.
Spoonmore told ABC on Friday that she wasn’t convinced her cousin would have been seen as a threat to Lester, as he has since claimed.
“He was on the other side of a glass door when he was shot. That’s the part that really sticks with me. It’s that there was a barrier between this 16-year-old boy and this 84-year-old man,” she told the station.
Pictured: The home of Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner accused of shooting black teen Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri
Andrew Lester, 84, pleaded not guilty during an initial Clay County Courthouse appearance in April
“When this man talked about it, he saw a black person who was six feet tall. There’s no way you can open a door, and you’re looking through a glass door, and you’re looking at a guy who’s probably 5’10” and you’re still seeing a threat.”
She added that she was thankful that Ralph is alive and looked forward to the day when he could tell his own story.
“I hope it doesn’t stop him from seeing the good in people. I hope it doesn’t arouse any kind of hatred in him. Because there’s a lot in it,’ she said.
“There is a lot to process and I hope he realizes there are good people in every race and bad people in every race. We have to take people as they are, and I hope he is still able to move forward and do greater things.”