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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Police have identified the suspect accused of shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Kansas, Missouri, last week as 84-year-old Andrew Lester.
On Monday, Lester was charged with two felony counts in relation to an April 13 incident when Yarl was allegedly shot by the homeowner. Lester is being charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree and one count of armed criminal action. Yarl's family said he went to Lester's house by mistake when he was picking up his younger brothers. Instead of going to an address on 115th Terrace, Yarl appeared at the doorstep of a home on 115th Street, where he was shot after ringing the doorbell.
Over the weekend, demonstrators demanding justice for Yarl protested outside of Lester's home, chanting "Black lives matter" and holding signs that read, "Ringing a doorbell is not a crime".
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Public records obtained by Newsweek show that Lester possesses a hunting license registered in the state of Missouri and that he previously resided in Texas, California, Arizona and Virginia. The 84-year-old used to work as a technician for American West Airlines, according to property records matching Lester to the address of the shooting.
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Clay County prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson confirmed there was a "racial component" to the case. This confirmed what Kansas Police Chief Stacey Graves suspected earlier, saying that as chief of police, she recognizes the "racial components of the case."
However, attorneys representing the Yarl family have said, "It is inescapable not to observe the racial dynamics here."
"If the roles were reversed, how much outraged would there be in America?" civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has been retained by the family, asked CNN on Monday.
Although Lester was held by police for 24 hours last week, he was released pending further investigation. At the time of his release, police had not been able to obtain a formal victim statement from Yarl, who was in the hospital after suffering a life-threatening injury. Officials say the teen is now in stable condition.
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