'I was always scared of him': Ex-wife of Andrew Lester, who shot Ralph Yarl, 16, says he was violent during their 14-year marriage
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: The ex-wife of 84-year-old Andrew Lester, who has been accused of shooting a 16-year-old Black teenager Ralph Yarl, said Lester was a violent man. Mary Clayton, 81, who was married to Lester for 14 years and had three children with him, said “I was always scared of him. It doesn't surprise me, what happened.”
As previously reported, Yarl was shot in his head and arm on Thursday night, April 13, after he mistakenly walked up to the man's house on 115th Street and rang the doorbell to pick up his twin brothers. Lester told police that he was about to go to bed when he heard the doorbell ring and claimed to have seen a “Black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the storm door handle.” Although Yarl said he never touched Lester’s door and had never been on the property before that night.
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Prosecutors stated Lester fired two shots through a glass door with a 32-caliber revolver. Following this, Yarl managed to flee as Lester allegedly shouted, “Don’t come around here."
Andrew Lester, charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, has surrendered at our Detention Center. He is in custody.
— Clay County, Missouri Sheriff (@SheriffClayCo) April 18, 2023
Andrew Lester pleaded not guilty to two assault charges
The alleged shooter turned himself in on April 18 at the Clay County Detention Facility in Kansas City. He is charged with first-degree assault and has been accused of armed criminal activity which is punishable by up to 15 years of imprisonment. Lester, who pleaded not guilty to two assault charges during an arraignment, was later freed on a $200K bond. He has been ordered not to possess any weapons and is prohibited from having any contact with Yarl as a condition of his release, reported Daily Mail.
Andrew Lester, charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, has surrendered at our Detention Center. He is in custody.
— Clay County, Missouri Sheriff (@SheriffClayCo) April 18, 2023
Andrew Lester was prone to fits of rage
However, Lester's ex-wife said that this violent behavior is nothing new. The New York Times stated that Clayton, who now lives in California and has not been in touch with him for decades, was scared of him as "Lester was prone to fits of rage, smashing objects in their home when he was angry. Back then, when she summoned the police, they told her that it was his house and that he could do as he liked."
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, representing Yarl, said, as per Daily Mail, "We thought that this was something the DOJ should be looking into. They are (looking into it). It's under investigation, they've received our complaint and are now looking into it. I want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. All of his assets are going to become Ralph's."
