Relatives of shooting suspect Andrew Lester have denied reports that he opened fire on a Black teenager due to his alleged racism.
Mr Lester, 84, faces first-degree assault and armed criminal action charges in the 13 April shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl. Ralph, a high school junior, was shot twice when he went to pick up his younger twin brothers from a friend’s house in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said the teen got the address muddled up and accidentally rang the doorbell of Mr Lester’s home on 115th Street, where he was shot and wounded.
Earlier this week, Mr Lester’s grandson Klint Ludwig told CNN that the 84-year-old “holds racist tendencies and beliefs” — something he attributed in part to “this 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia”.
But Mr Ludwig’s brother Daniel Ludwig has since denied those reports, telling the Kansas City Star that his grandfather’s account of the events “hasn’t been reported.” Daniel said Mr Lester is a “very straightforward, military-trained” veteran, but not a racist.
“If you look at the affidavit, there were actions taken that caused it,” Daniel Ludwig told the Star. “My grandpa’s side isn’t being reported.”
Dean Smith, a nephew of Mr Lester, also told the Star that his uncle was a “decent man” who was living by himself while he waited for his wife to come back from the hospital.
“They were trying to get her health back before she came home,” Mr Smith said, noting that Mr Lester likely didn’t expect visitors. “Eighty-four years old, living by himself.”
Meanwhile, Klint Ludwig told CNN that his grandfather has a history of making “racist comments” and of an interest in “QAnon-level conspiracy theories”.
“A lot of it was like the QAnon-level conspiracies of election denying and he got really weird about some Fauci dogs... And I would push back on some of that stuff and he couldn’t handle being pushed back on and at a certain point we kind fof lost touch and I think it was more his choice than mine,” he said.
During the Covid pandemic, in an instance when the family was sitting together, Mr Lester had shared a conspiracy theory against Mr Fauci, said Klint Ludwig, without elaborating on what the conspiracy theory was.
“I was like, ‘Man, this sounds crazy’,” Mr Ludwig told The New York Times. “I told him it was ridiculous.”
The two have been distant from each other since then, he said.
The 28-year-old grandson also claimed Mr Lester used to make disparaging comments about Black people, gay people, and immigrants – and kept a large number of firearms in his home, including rifles and handguns.
Mr Lester was detained for less than two hours after the shooting – before being released without charge. He was finally charged on Monday afternoon with two felonies but more than 20 hours passed before he was taken into custody, when he surrendered to authorities.
He was released again less than two hours later after posting a $200,000 bond.
The shooting and the treatment of the white homeowner have sparked outrage from celebrities, civil rights attorneys and the victim’s family.
Ralph is recovering at home from his injuries in what his family has described as a miracle.
