White Missouri Man Who Shot Ralph Yarl Pleads Guilty

Explore Our Galleries

An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

February 14, 2025

By Christina Carrega, Capital B

Ralph Yarl walks to the Clay County, Missouri, Courthouse to attend a hearing Friday for Andrew Lester, the 86-year-old man who shot Yarl in 2023 after he mistakenly knocked on Lester’s door. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press)

Nearly two years after Clay County prosecutors filed charges against Andrew Lester in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, he has admitted his guilt. The 86-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree assault on Friday.

Kansas City, Missouri, activists and the family of the now-18-year-old Black teen, who was shot in the head by Lester, were frustrated by the investigation and outraged that it took so long for the shooter to be charged.

Police initially questioned Lester after the April 13, 2023, shooting. But he was released after 24 hours — which outraged the community and Yarl’s family. He was charged four days later.

As part of a plea agreement, Lester now faces a maximum of seven years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Prior to this, he faced a potential sentence of life in prison.

[…]

“This case centers on the reasonableness of actions taken, not the right to self-defense,” said Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson in a press release announcing Lester’s guilty plea. “While we support homeowners’ rights to protect themselves, shooting an unarmed teenager through a locked door exceeds reasonable bounds. Ralph made an innocent mistake, and the consequences — being shot twice — far exceeded any reasonable response.”

Learn more.

This shooting shows the dangerous perception of Black children known as adultification.

More breaking Black news.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.