Elderly Missouri man pleads guilty to second-degree assault in shooting of Black teen

LIBERTY, Mo. (CN) — Andrew Lester, who shot a Black teenager who mistakenly knocked on the door of his north Kansas City home in April 2023, pleaded guilty in a plea deal Friday. The teen’s mother said his family is still hoping for justice.

“While this marks a step toward accountability, true justice requires consequences that reflect the severity of his actions — anything less would be a failure to recognize the harm he has caused,” Cleo Nagbe — the mother of the teen, Ralph Yarl — said in a statement following Lester’s plea Friday. “We remain hopeful that his sentencing will not be merely a slap on the wrist but a decision that upholds the seriousness of his crime.”

Lester, an 86-year-old retired aircraft mechanic, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a Class D felony, in Clay County Circuit Court. He had been set to go to trial next week on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of then-16-year-old Yarl and initially pleaded not guilty. The incident reverberated throughout the United States and stoked a debate on guns and race.

Lester faces a possible prison term of up to seven years and/or a $10,000 fine. Sentencing is set for March 7.

Yarl survived but has continued to struggle mentally with the effects of the shooting. He has since graduated high school and gone on to attend Texas A&M, where he is in Air Force ROTC and plays clarinet in the marching band. “Ralph is doing his best to be OK,” Nagbe said through a family spokeswoman Friday.

Lester appeared Friday afternoon in front of Circuit Court Judge David P. Chamberlain. About 30 people were packed into the gallery, maybe half of them journalists. Yarl and a handful of family members sat in the front row. They did not speak to reporters.

Yarl was sitting in a black wheelchair, with his head down facing his folded hands in his lap. “He’s looking frail,” a reporter whispered. A sheriff’s deputy gently pushed his chair next to the podium and his attorney, Steven B. Salmon.

Chamberlain spoke fast but stopped repeatedly to ensure Lester understood what he was admitting and pleading guilty to.

At one point, the judge said twice: “Can you hear me?” Lester replied, “Yes, sir.”

After reviewing some of Lester’s background, Chamberlain said, “I understand your health is not that great.”

“Yes,” Lester replied. He pleaded guilty, and the deputy wheeled him away through a side door.

In a news conference outside the courtroom, prosecutor Zachary Thompson emphasized that the case was not over. But he faced a flurry of questions related to the racial issues in the shooting.

While acknowledging that race was a component of the case, Thompson told reporters that “no evidence was uncovered that revealed a racial motivation.”

Thompson said prosecutors are recommending a sentence of five years.

Yarl’s mother addressed race in her statement: “The fight against systemic failures and racial bias must continue. We call on our communities, leaders, and justice system to turn this moment into lasting change — ensuring that no child’s life is devalued because of the color of their skin.”

During a court hearing in August 2023, Yarl spoke softly as he testified that he was sent to pick up his twin siblings but had no phone — he’d lost it at school. The house he intended to go to was just blocks from his home, but he had the street wrong, The Associated Press reported.

Yarl said he rang the bell and waited for someone to answer for what seemed “longer than normal."

As the inner door opened, Yarl said he reached out to grab the storm door, assuming his brothers’ friends’ parents were on the other end. Instead, it was Lester, who told him, “Don’t come here ever again,” Yarl recalled.

Yarl was shot in the head, and the impact knocked him to the ground. He was then shot in the arm.

Lester’s attorney, Steve Salmon, said then that Lester acted in self-defense, terrified by a stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed for the night. KCUR, a Kansas City NPR station, reported that Yarl’s attempt to open the door was at the heart of Lester’s planned defense.

“With his age and physical infirmity, he is unable to defend himself," Salmon said during the hearing.

The shot to Yarl’s head left a bullet embedded in his skull, Dr. Jo Ling Goh, a pediatric neurosurgeon who treated Yarl, testified. It did not penetrate his brain, however.

Thompson said in the hearing that — although Missouri law offers protections for people defending themselves — “you do not have the right to shoot an unarmed kid through a door.”

Missouri is one of 30 states with “stand your ground” laws that allow people to respond with physical force when threatened.

Salmon has said Lester’s home was egged and spray-painted after the shooting. He said Lester has sought law enforcement assistance when traveling, and his wife had to be moved from her nursing home.

Lester has undergone a mental health evaluation, the results of which have not been made public. Salmon has said the condition of his elderly client has physically and mentally declined since the shooting, and he has been stressed due to significant public interest and media coverage, ABC reported, citing court documents. A judge has sealed the case file.

A civil case filed by Yarl’s family was later settled.

Said Nagbe in Friday’s statement: “This case has never been just about Ralph — it is about every child’s right to exist without being seen as a threat. This is about the not normalizing a world where our children are forced into adulthood due to everyday gun violence in our schools and communities. The joys and innocent childhood is soon becoming an illusion.”

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