Ralph Yarl. Photo: GoFundMe and Classic FM.
“Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old clarinettist from Kansas City, Missouri has been released from hospital after he was left with life-threatening injuries following a shooting last week,” writes Sophia Alexandra Hall in Tuesday’s (4/18) Classic FM (U.K.). “The Black teenager was meant to be collecting his siblings from 115th Terrace, but instead arrived at 115th Street in error. Here Yarl was shot twice by the house’s white occupant after he knocked on the door of this house by mistake. The assailant has been identified as Andrew D. Lester, an 84-year-old man who as of Monday 17 April, has been charged by local prosecutors with first-degree assault for shooting the teenager. Described by his family as a ‘musical genius,’ Yarl, who plays both the clarinet and bassoon, was rushed to hospital on the night of Thursday 13 April, after being shot at 10:30pm. While the young musician was said to be in recovery … reports state that he has been left with ‘life-changing injuries.’ … Yarl recently earned a second chair position in the Missouri All-State Band with an honorable mention … He is also a section leader in his school marching band, plays multiple instruments in the Northland Symphony Youth Orchestra, and performs as part of his school’s Jazz and competition band. The musician’s family set up a GoFundMe page to pay for Yarl’s hospital bills.”
