Until the moment he was shot in the head, Ralph Yarl said he did not believe the armed white man in front of him would pull the trigger.
The black teen had gone to the wrong Kansas City address in April to pick up his siblings when homeowner Andrew Lester opened fire on him through the front door of the home, authorities said.
“I heard the door open. I see this old man and I’m like, ‘Oh, this must be like his grandfather’ and then he pulls out his gun and I’m like ‘wow.'” Yarl told ABC News in an interview that aired on Tuesday, in his first public statements about the April 13 attack.
“So I back off. He points at me. So I sort of brace myself and turn my head. I’m thinking there’s no way he’s going to shoot, right? The door (isn’t even) open. He’s going to shoot through his glass door and glass is going to get everywhere? And then it happened.”
Despite being shot in the head, Yarl still had the strength to run away and call for help.
“And then I’m on the floor. I fall on the glass, the glass shattered and then before I know it I’m running outside screaming, ‘Help me, help me!'” he said. “I was bleeding from my head. I was like, ‘How is this possible? I have been shot in the head. “
Yarl was picking up his brothers from a house on Northeast 115th Terrace, but went to Northeast 115th Street, just a block away. The teenager remembered what Lester supposedly told him before pulling the trigger.
“He only said five words: ‘Don’t come here again,'” Yarl said.
Lester has been charged by Clay County prosecutors with felony assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lester’s defense attorney, Steven Salmon, could not immediately be reached by NBC News on Tuesday. Salmon told ABC News that he is prohibited from discussing the case, but said he is “looking forward to the next preliminary hearing.”
Lester had told the police that he was afraid when he pulled the trigger.
“Unfortunately, race is a big factor in determining who gets justice and who doesn’t,” family lawyer Lee Merrett told ABC. “And in cases where there is a white man and a black child, I have seen time and time again the criminal justice system get twisted to find a way to justify the shooting. That’s a concern for me here.”
While Yarl appeared to be healthy in his conversation with ABC News, the teen said he is still suffering from lingering effects.
“There are many things inside my head that are not normal,” he said. “Sometimes my mind is cloudy, like I can’t focus on the things that would be easy for me to do.”
