Ralph Yarl, Black teenager shot by white man, now in Missouri’s all-state band

Yarl was shot in the head and arm last year after he rang the doorbell to the wrong house while trying to pick up his brothers

A Black teenager who was shot by an elderly white man after ringing the wrong doorbell when picking up his siblings has secured a spot on Missouri’s all-state band, less than a year after suffering a traumatic brain injury from the shooting.

Ralph Yarl, who is 17, was shot in the head and arm by Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri, in April last year after going to the wrong house to pick up his twin brothers. The case reignited debate in the US over race and gun violence issues.