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Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager who was shot in the head after he accidentally went to the wrong house in Kansas City, is speaking out for the first time since the shooting.
Yarl recently sat down with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, telling her that he's “just living my life the best I can” in the aftermath of the shooting.
“I’m just a kid and not larger than life because this happened to me,” Yarl said.
Yarl's shooting unfolded on April 13 after he mistakenly went to the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers. When he initially encountered suspected shooter Andrew Lester, 84, Yarl said he thought Lester was the grandfather of his brothers' friends.
The situation quickly took a turn when Lester pulled out his gun and pointed it at the teen.
“He points [the gun] at me, so I kinda, like, brace, and I turn my head,” Yarl told Roberts. “Then it happened. And then I’m on the ground, and then I fall on the glass. The shattered glass. And then before I know it, I’m running away shouting, ‘Help me, help me.’”
At one point during the shooting, Yarl said Lester told him “Don’t come here ever again.” Yarl ran to multiple nearby houses to get help as he was bleeding from the shooting.
“I was bleeding from my head, I was like, ‘How is this possible? I’ve been shot in the head,’” the teen recalled.
Lester has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges in the shooting. His preliminary hearing is set for August 31.
Though Yarl is healing, he said he's been experiencing headaches and difficulties with sleeping and concentrating. The teen hopes that Lester faces consequences for his actions.
“Justice is just the rule of the law, regardless of race, ethnicity, and age. He should be convicted for the crimes that he made," Yarl told GMA. “He should suffer repercussions because that is what our society is made of. Trust in each other and reassurance that we can coexist together in harmony.”
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