Photo: Ralph Yarl | By Deena Zaru, Sabina Ghebremedhin, ABC News | The family of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot and injured last year when he knocked on the wrong door, filed a civil lawsuit in Missouri on Monday against the accused shooter, Andrew Lester.
The complaint, which was filed on behalf of Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, names Lester and the Highland Acres Lakeside Heights Homeowners Association in the Kansas City neighborhood where the shooting took place and argues that their “carelessness” and “negligence” led Yarl to “suffer and sustain permanent injuries.”
“[Ralph] is an anomaly to me honestly, because there is no hatred in his heart. There’s no anger or bitterness,” Yarl family attorney Lee Merritt told ABC News in an interview set to air on Monday. “He has a strong sense of justice and he wants us to move forward with pursuing justice for him.”
When asked about the lawsuit, Lester’s attorney, Steven Salmon, told ABC News he could not comment because he was not aware of the suit and had not seen a copy of the complaint. The civil suit comes ahead of Lester’s criminal trial, which is set to begin on Oct. 7.
ABC News reached out to the homeowner’s association, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
The 85-year-old was charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree in connection to the April 13, 2023 shooting and one count of armed criminal action, also a felony. Lester pleaded not guilty and was released on $200,000 bond.
Yarl was shot in the head and in the right arm by Lester, according to police, after the teenager mistakenly arrived at the wrong address to pick up his twin brothers from a friend’s house. Lester maintained he believed someone was trying to break into his house.
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Yarl, who is a senior in high school, is college bound and is planning to study engineering, Nagbe said. He is also passionate about music and plays the bass clarinet, which led him to be selected to the 2024 Missouri All-State Band.
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Go here to read the full article:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-ralph-yarl-teen-shot-mistakenly-wrong-house-civil-lawsuit/story?id=109573983
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Related Story:
Judge rules Andrew Lester case to be partially sealed in the shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl
The teen’s family criticized the judge’s decision to partially seal the case.
ByDeena Zaru and Tesfaye Negussie, ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-rules-andrew-lester-case-partially-sealed-shooting/story?id=99756606
Photo: Ralph Yarl
Ralph Yarl, Teen Shot After Mistakenly Going to the Wrong House, Seeks ‘justice’ in Civil Lawsuit
