The GoFundMe page for Ralph Yarl, the 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head for ringing the wrong doorbell in Missouri, has raised more than $2.8 million as of Tuesday afternoon.
The fundraiser, launched by the teen’s aunt, has drawn nearly 75,000 donors to help pay for his medical expenses after he was shot twice by suspect Andrew Lester, 84, in Kansas City.
The GoFundMe page will raise money for Yarl’s medical bills and therapy, with any additional money going to his college fund and other expenses.
His aunt, Faith Spoonmore, noted that it is Yarl’s dream to attend Texas A&M University to study chemical engineering after visiting the school last summer.
Yarl has since been discharged from the hospital and is recovering at home, with Lester officially charged on Monday with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action, according to the Clay County Prosecutor’s office.
Lester shot Yarl twice — once in the head and once in the arm — with a .32-caliber revolver after the teen mistakenly arrived on his doorstep on Thursday night to pick up his twin brothers who were actually waiting for him at a home about a block away.
Prosecutor Zachary Thompson added that there was “a racial component” to the case, given that Lester is white and Yarl was black.
But he did not elaborate, only saying no words were exchanged between the two before Yarl was blasted.
Earlier on Monday, it was revealed that there were signs warning against solicitors and trespassers at the home where Yarl was shot.
A small sign right above the doorbell Yarl rang reads, “No Solicitors,” and another sign by the side fence states: “This property is protected by surveillance cameras.”
It remains unclear if Yarl read any of the signs when he arrived at the home around 10:30 p.m.
The teen never crossed through the door, prosecutors said.
Lester told investigators that he fired at Yarl because he was “scared to death” and believed someone was breaking into his home, which would play into Missouri’s “Stand your ground” law.
According to the state’s self-defense law, a person may use physical and deadly force against another if they have a reason to believe that such force is necessary to protect “against death, serious physical injury or any forcible felony.”
Missouri’s “castle doctrine” specifically allows such actions to be used in a person’s home, which will likely play into the case as Lester was inside his house when he fired at Yarl, who was standing outside.
It remains to be seen if Lester will be able to argue that he faced a legitimate threat when Yarl rang his doorbell.
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