Kansas City: Black teenager shot ‘in head’ after going to wrong house to collect younger brothers
A black teenager in the US has been shot in the head after going to the wrong house to pick up his younger twin brothers, his family has said.
Ralph Yarl, 16, is in hospital following the shooting which happened at about 10pm on Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said he went to the wrong house and was shot there.
A GoFundMe page, thought to be set up by Ralph’s aunt Faith Spoonmore, said the boy was shot once in the head and a second time after he fell to the ground.
Ralph’s aunt said the teenager escaped but had to knock at three different homes before someone helped him.
Police said Ralph had a life-threatening injury but was in a stable condition.
Ralph was described by family members as a talented musician. Pic: Facebook
The homeowner who allegedly shot Ralph was taken into custody on Thursday. He has been released pending further investigation.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told local media that Ralph’s family said the gunman was white.
“It is inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play,” said Mr Crump, who is representing Ralph’s family.
Officials have not named the alleged attacker or confirmed their race. They have also not confirmed the number of times the victim was shot or the extent of his injuries.
Mr Crump has represented the families in several high-profile cases including Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, as well as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
In a post on Instagram about Ralph’s case, Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis called on prosecutors to “make an immediate arrest and bring the appropriate charges”.
“He didn’t deserve what happened to him,” she wrote. “We won’t stand for it. We are coming for justice.”
Police yet to take victim statement
Missouri law allows a person to be held for up to 24 hours for a felony investigation. At that point, the person must be released or arrested and formally charged.
To arrest someone, law enforcement needs a formal victim statement, forensic evidence and other information for a case file to be completed.
Because of the teenager’s injuries, police have not yet been able to take a victim statement.
Kansas City police chief Stacey Graves said: “I want everyone to know that I am listening and I understand the concern we are receiving from the community.”
Read more:
Four dead and 28 injured after mass shooting at birthday party
The true scale of America’s gun problem
The shooting sparked a protest in Kansas City on Sunday, with hundreds gathering outside the home where Ralph was allegedly shot.
Ralph’s aunt said he was a “fantastic kid” and a talented musician who wanted to study chemical engineering at university.
She wrote: “Life looks a lot different right now. Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally.
“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.
“Ralph deserves to have the future that he has dreams about.”
The GoFundMe page that is raising money for his medical expenses has collected more than $700,000 (£565,000).
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
Read more:
Trump announces 30% tariff on EU imports
Trump threatens to revoke US comedian’s citizenship
Two women killed after shooting at US church
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
UK aims to build relationship with Syria
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Read more from Sky News:
UK restores diplomatic ties with Syria
Church in Syria targeted by suicide bomber
Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike