US: 16-year-old Ralph Yarl shot for knocking on the wrong door

A youngster was shot twice after ringing the wrong doorbell to pick up his little brothers on Thursday evening. The 84-year-old alleged shooter has been arrested and charged.

A story tragic that is shaking America. On Thursday April 13 in the evening, Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old African-American teenager had to pick up his two younger twin brothers from a friend's house in Kansas City, Missouri. But he got the wrong address and rang the wrong doorbell.

An elderly, white man then opened the door, and shot him in the head and arm after he fell, prosecutors said. Miraculously, Ralph Yarl was able to escape to a neighbor's house to ask for help. The young man survived. He recovers “despite the severity of his injuries”, according to one of his family's lawyers quoted by ABC News.

The shooter, Andrew Lester, 85, was charged Monday with two felony counts, one of which carries life in prison, Clay County District Attorney Zachary Thompson said at a news conference. An arrest warrant was issued and his bail was set at $200.

Since Monday, the supports from celebrities are linked. "Ralph didn't deserve what happened to him. We will not tolerate it. We come to ask for justice. Use the contact information below to request Prosecutor Zachary Thompson to make an immediate arrest and lay the appropriate charges”, shared the actress Viola Davis, on his Instagram account. Like her, many celebrities and activists are showing their outrage, calling for justice. We can cite among them, Naomi Campbell , Halle Berry or, Madonna.

In a country where one in three black people has a family member killed by a gun, according to the study the Kaiser Family Foundation published on April 11, this drama puts the issue of weapons in the wild and racially motivated crimes at the center of the debate. The same study found that one in five Black adults (20%) believe that gun-related crime, death and injury is a "constant threat" to their local community, more than double the proportion white adults (8%).