KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cleo Nagbe, the mother of Ralph Yarl, has given her first interview since Andrew Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for shooting her son in April 20234. Lester’s guilty plea, which took less than 30 minutes in a Clay County courtroom last Friday, marks a step toward accountability, but the family’s journey is far from over.
The case has dominated nearly two years of Ralph and his family’s lives. The then-16-year-old Yarl mistakenly rang Lester’s doorbell while trying to pick up his younger siblings. Lester, then 84, shot Yarl in the head and arm.
Yarl has since recovered from his injuries and is now a freshman at Texas A&M University, studying engineering and playing bass clarinet in the university’s marching band.
Despite the guilty plea, Yarl’s family knows the case is not over. “The limelight on it might be dimming, but I don’t really see it coming to a close,” Nagbe said Monday. She noted her son’s desire to be known for his achievements, not the shooting. “He wants to be seen for his music, he wants to be seen for what he can do in the STEM world and what he can do to help others,” Nagbe said. “But when you Google him, you see ’86-year-old man shoots Black teenager,’ and that’s the first thing you will see. That has tainted him so much, and I think it will take decades to go away”.
Nagbe said that as she sat with her arm around Ralph in court, they were aware of the plea but didn’t know what to expect. “I was waiting to see what the next game would be,” she said. “Honestly, I was like, ‘Okay, is something else going to happen here?'”
Nagbe also noted the emotional toll the case has taken on her family, stating that “Two years of our life has been stolen and that’s two years we will never get back,”. However, she expresses hope that they “can find the time to rise from those ashes and grow back into ourselves what we should have been”.
While Yarl may have been more emotionally prepared for the verdict than some of his family members, they accepted the plea deal, with Ralph’s voice in their decision-making, so they could try to move forward. Nagbe also recognized the challenges her son faces balancing the case with his schoolwork. “How many times can he drop everything he’s doing at school and fly down here?” Nagbe said.”He’s in a STEM program. It takes a lot. How many times can he do online classes on the plane?”
Lester’s guilty plea to second-degree assault means he could spend one to seven years in prison and be ordered to pay up to a $10,000 fine, or a combination of a fine and prison time. His sentencing is scheduled for March 7.
Nagbe is preparing a victim impact statement to share during the sentencing. She plans to ask the judge not to focus on Lester’s age but rather on setting a precedent for the future. “This is about other teenagers and other people,” she said. “We live in the delivery world right now. There will be mailmen, and people delivering food, delivering packages. This judge has a situation now where he can set the bar for the future”
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