(CNN) A teenager was shot and wounded by a homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong house to pick up his siblings in Kansas City, Missouri, police said Sunday.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting overnight at April 13 and arrived to find a teenager shot by a homeowner outside a residence, according to Kansas City Police.
The teenager was taken to a local hospital, where he was in stable condition Sunday, police said.
Police learned that the teenager’s parents asked him to pick up his siblings at an address on 115th Terrace, but he accidentally went to a house on 115th Street, where he was shot, according to police.
The teenager was identified as 16-year-old high school junior Ralph Yarl, according to a joint statement from civil rights attorneys S. Lee Merritt and Benjamin Crump, who were retained by the victim and her family.
“Despite the severity of his injuries and the severity of his condition, Ralph is alive and recovering,” the attorneys said in a statement.
The homeowner — who has not yet been identified — was taken into custody and held for 24 hours, then released pending further investigation due to the need to obtain a formal statement from the victim and on gathering more forensic evidence, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a press conference on Sunday.
Under Missouri state law, a person can be detained for up to 24 hours for the investigation of a crime, at which point they must be charged or released, Graves said at the press conference.
The shooting sparked a protest in Kansas City on Sunday, with hundreds gathering outside the home where Yarl was shot, according to CNN affiliate KSHB.
Protesters marched as they chanted, “justice for Ralph” and “Black lives matter,” and carried signs that read, “Ringing a doorbell is not a crime” and “Must do to time is a shooter,” footage from CNN affiliate KMBC showed.
“We demand immediate action from Clay County prosecutors and law enforcement to identify, arrest and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law the person responsible for this horrific and senseless shooting,” the victim’s attorney’s statement read. .
Asked if the shooting could be racially motivated, the police chief said, “the information we have right now, it doesn’t say that it was racially motivated. That’s still an active investigation. But as a police chief, I identified racial components in this case.”
Protesters gather in Kansas City after the shooting of Ralph Paul Yarl.
Graves sought to reassure the Kansas City community on Sunday that the police department is committed to bringing justice to this case.
“We recognize the disruption this can cause to the entire criminal justice process. The women and men of the Kansas City Police Department are working as fast and as hard as we can, to ensure that the criminal justice process continues to move forward.” as quickly as possible for everyone involved. and our community deserves,” Graves said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said there will be a full investigation and review by the prosecutor’s office.
“As a parent, I really feel for the victim’s mother and the rest of the family. My heart goes out to them,” added the mayor.
A GoFundMe started by Faith Spoonmore, who introduced herself as Yarl’s aunt, to help the family raise money for medical expenses raised more than $529,000 in donations Sunday night.
Yarl is looking forward to finishing high school and visiting West Africa before starting college, where he hopes to major in chemical engineering, his aunt wrote in the fundraiser.
The teenager is a section leader in a marching band and can often be found with a musical instrument in hand, Spoonmore wrote. Most recently, Yarl earned Missouri All-State Band honorable mention playing Bass Clarinet, according to the North Kansas City Schools newsletter in February.
“Life looks very different now. Although he is physically fine, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally. The trauma he has had to endure and live with is unimaginable,” the GoFundMe post read.
