Clarence Page
I don’t sympathize in any way with Andrew Lester, but I think I understand him. From what I hear through the media, he sounds like a fellow grumpy old man.
I understand. I’m old and feeling grumpier by the day. But I don’t turn to firearms to do my talking.
The same apparently cannot be said for Andrew Lester, 84, the retired airplane mechanic who infamously gave a trigger-happy response to Ralph Yarl, when the 16-year-old teenager knocked on Lester’s door in Kansas City, Missouri, not knowing he had come to the wrong address. Yarl was picking up his younger siblings at a friend’s home.
Far from a gangbanger, Yarl was described later in a statement by North Kansas City School District Superintendent Dan Clemens as an excellent student and a talented musician who maintains a stellar GPA while taking mostly college-level courses — far from a criminal profile.
Fortunately, the teen survived two gunshot wounds, including one to his head. The case stoked national outrage as a symbol of gun violence and national debates over self-defense, racial profiling and “stand your ground” or “castle doctrine” self-defense laws.
Lester pleaded not guilty to the charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action, and was released on $200,000 bond. In custody, he told police that he fired his Smith & Wesson .32-caliber pistol because he was “scared to death” that someone was trying to break into his home.
Controversy deepened as Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said at a news conference without elaborating that there was “a racial component to the case.”
That view seemed to be supported by Lester’s grandson Klint Ludwig, who told the Kansas City Star that he was repulsed but not entirely surprised by the shooting. “The warning signs were there. I wasn’t shocked when I heard the news,” Ludwig told CNN. “I believe he held, holds, racist tendencies and beliefs.”
Ludwig described how his grandpa fell “further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line” while immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.”
By contrast, Klint Ludwig’s older brother Daniel declined to comment much, but in a New York Times interview, he disputed claims that their grandfather supported extreme views and conspiracy theories.
Yet, when we try to make sense out of the senseless in cases like this one, the narrative is complicated by some eerily similar gun tragedies that happened within days of each other.
For example, race didn’t come up as an issue two days after Yarl’s shooting when Kaylin Gillis, 20, riding with a group of her young friends, pulled into the wrong driveway at a rural country home in a wooded area of upstate New York. The homeowner came out of his house and, reportedly without warning, shot at them, killing Gillis.
Or there were the two Texas cheerleaders, shot on April 18 after a friend mistakenly got into the wrong car in a supermarket parking lot. A suspect, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was charged with “deadly conduct,” a third-degree felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000, authorities said.
And, of course, there were more gun-related tragedies across our land where guns way outnumber people. These stood out only because of the striking similarities in their circumstances. Whether it was because of mistaken identities or senselessly volatile tempers, they stand out as tragic examples of how routine mistakes quickly can turn tragic at the hands of people too eager to pick up a firearm.
“No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell,” said President Joe Biden after Yarl’s shooting.
That’s too true. But Fox News host Tucker Carlson quickly accused Biden of trying to “further divide the country.”
Aw, c’mon, Tucker. You’re too young to join us grumpy old men, although you’re off to a good start.
E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
