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Ralph’s parents had asked him around 10 p.m. last Tuesday to pick up his brothers from an address on 115th Terrace, Kansas City. But the boy accidentally walked down the block and rang the doorbell of a house on 115th Street.
“He shot him in the head”
There he was shot in the head and arm in front of the house. “The man in the house opened the door, looked my cousin in the eye and shot him in the head. My cousin fell to the ground and the man shot him again. Ralph was then able to stand get up and run to the neighbours, looking for help,” Ralph’s aunt says. “Unfortunately, he had to run to three different houses before someone finally agreed to help him after ‘he was told to lie on the ground with his hands in the air.”
Ralph was then taken to hospital where he is currently in stable condition. The police arrested the owner of the house and locked him in the cell for 24 hours, then released him.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told a press conference that it happened because Missouri state law requires a suspect to be released after 24 hours or charged. But further research is needed for the latter, so the man could not be detained.
“Suppose the roles are reversed”
According to well-known human rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who represents Ralph’s family, the suspect is a white male. Crump is stunned the man was released and told CNN this afternoon: “If the tables were turned and a black man shot a 16-year-old white kid for just ringing your doorbell. And then the police would pick up the black man, question him, then release him and just let him sleep in his bed: how much outrage would there be in America?”
Crump argues that it’s “inevitable not to see the racial dynamic here.”
Yesterday protesters took to the streets with signs such as ‘ringing the doorbell is not a crime’ and chanting ‘black lives matter’ and ‘justice for Ralph’.
“Investigation into a racist motive”
At the press conference, police were asked if the shooter might have a racist motive. To which the Chief of Police replied: “The information we currently have does not tell us that, but it is still under investigation. As Chief of Police, I recognize the racial components of this affair.”
A huge sum has already been raised for Ralph thanks to a Fundraising of his aunt. There, the counter is now over 1 million dollars. The money will go, among other things, to the help that Ralph will need in the future, physically and mentally. “The trauma he has to endure and survive is unimaginable,” his aunt wrote. “Ralph is our miracle. We’ve heard stories like this many times, but sadly most black men aren’t alive after this.”
