A fundraiser for the family of Ralph Yarl, 16, a Black teenager police say was shot twice by a white man after he mistakenly rang his doorbell, has reached nearly $1 million.
Yarl was shot in Kansas City on April 13 when he went to collect his sibling from a home and accidentally went to the wrong address. The incident has outraged the community.
As Yarl was already bleeding on the ground, police said the man shot him again. Police called it an error, Yarl's family say it was a hate crime.
“This was not an ‘error’; this was a hate crime. You don’t shoot a child in the head because he rang your doorbell. The fact that the police said it was an ‘error’ is why America is the way it is,” said Dr. Faith Spoonmore, who is Yarl's aunt.
In a GoFundMe she started for her nephew, Spoonmore wrote that after he was shot, Yarl "was then able to get up and run to the neighbor's house, looking for help."
"Unfortunately, he had to run to three different homes before someone finally agreed to help him after he was told to lie on the ground with his hands up," she wrote.
"Ralph Pual Yarl is a fantastic kid, and I am not just saying this because he is my nephew. He truly is. At school, he is a member of the Technology Student Association and Science Olympia Team. Jazz and competition band," Spoonmore wrote. "He is a section leader in the marching band; a scholar and one of the top base clarinet players in Missouri. He recently earned Missouri All-State Band recognition with an honorable mention. He plays multiple instruments in the metropolitan youth orchestra. He is a 2022 Missouri scholar academy alumni. Ralph can often be found with a musical instrument. He loves them all."
But now, life for Yarl looks a lot different. "Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally," she wrote. "The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable. He is our miracle. We have heard these types of stories many times, and unfortunately, most black boys are not alive to get another chance."
The GoFundMe she started for Yarl had raised $949,414 by Monday and is still climbing.
According to reports, the man who shot Yarl was taken to police headquarters briefly to provide a statement but was released shortly after without charge.