[2] Andrew Daniel Lester, an 84-year-old white man, was charged on April 17, 2023, with armed criminal action and first-degree assault, the equivalent of attempted murder in Missouri.
[4] National media attention rose toward this first of four unrelated shootings across the US that week, which were all characterized by young people receiving gunfire for making a harmless mistake.
[9] Friends and family describe him as an academically gifted student and musician, intending to major in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University.
[13] The suspect was identified as 84-year-old Andrew Daniel Lester (born October 21, 1938[15]), an ex-Virginia resident who lived in Kansas City at the time of the shooting.
[20] The Clay County, Missouri, prosecutor's office stated on April 17 that it had not received a criminal referral from the Kansas City Police Department about the shooting.
[1] On April 29, 2024, a lawsuit was filed by Yarl's mother Cleopatra Nagbe in the circuit court of Clay County, Missouri, accusing Lester and the Highland Acres Homes Association, Inc. of "careless and negligent conduct".
[27][28] In a weekend rally, the community and the family marched to and demonstrated in front of the suspected shooter's home, calling for official charges to be filed.
[34] Sympathies were publicly expressed on television news or at demonstrations, by Kansas City leaders including Mayor Quinton Lucas and KCPD Chief Stacey Graves.
Yarl's family retained civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump shortly after the shooting, who stated that there was "no excuse" for the release of the suspect and demanded swift legal action.