Klint Ludwig, the grandson of the man who shot unarmed Black teenager Ralph Yarl, has spoken out about what his grandfather was into.
Ludwig appeared on CNN Thursday and said his grandfather Andrew Lester is a Trump supporter who has been radicalized by racist conservative views in recent years.
Lester is accused of shooting Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black male, in Kansas City, Missouri, last week.
Ludwig slammed his grandfather, saying he was “disgusted” by Lester’s attack on the teen and called it a “horrible tragedy.”
When asked by Don Lemon why he was speaking out against his grandfather, Ludwig said, “It was the right thing to do,” adding, “This country it happens over and over again where people get away with killing unarmed innocent Black people.”
“People need to speak out and not make any excuses for this kind of behavior and violence.” He also accused his grandfather of being a “stock American Christian male” with “racist tendencies.”
He said over time, his grandfather became conspiratorial and would say “weird racist things,” which may have resulted from watching conservative media outlets, such as FOX News, all day.
Lester appeared in a Clay County court Wednesday on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He pleaded not guilty.
Lester is accused of shooting Yarl on the night of April 13 after the teen mistakenly went to the wrong home to pick up his siblings.
Yarl was picking up his younger siblings at a house on 115th Terrace but went to a house on 115th Street. When he arrived at the home, he rang the doorbell, and that is when Lester shot him through a glass door, court documents say.
Yarl told authorities that Lester told him, “Don’t come around here” after the shooting.
“The issue here is he saw his blackness as a threat, and that mindset is dangerous,” Merritt said. Community members are calling for Lester to be charged with a hate crime.
The night of the incident, Lester was taken into police custody for questioning and released. Merritt says there was “enough probable cause to make an arrest, and it’s a pretext that they’re standing behind because they embarrassed because for their lack of action, and they had to be shamed into action.”
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