“Of course it’s racially motivated”: The View hosts push back on police over Ralph Yarl shooting

The hosts of The View on Tuesday alleged a double standard in the handling of the shooting of Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl.

Yarl, who is Black, mistakenly approached the home of Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, while attempting to pick up his two younger brothers, according to police. Upon seeing Yarl at his front door, Lester shot him twice — once in the head and once in the arm after the teen had fallen to the ground. 

Yarl, who survived the shooting, was discharged from a hospital on Sunday evening after undergoing surgery over the weekend. A White House official stated that President Joe Biden spoke with Yarl and his family on Monday as he begins his road to recovery. 

Lester, originally released by police per a “24-hold” Missouri law, was subsequently charged in connection to the shooting. 

“Now, the alleged shooter was released within 24 hours of being held, which authorities claim is standard protocol. I would like to know if that’s so, because I think, had it been reversed he would have still been in jail. That’s just the way it is. That’s the way things play out,” host Whoopi Goldberg said.

“I mean, the gentleman said he was afraid,” Goldberg continued. “My question is, well, why didn’t you say, who is it, so that the kid could have said, I’m here to pick up my brothers, and the man could have said, your brothers are not here. You answered the door. You opened the door. You had to see who was there, and you shot him. Then you shot him again. Why?”

“What he said was, he said he was scared for his life, because he saw that he was 6-feet tall, which means he saw the kid,” co-host Ana Navarro said. “The part that he didn’t say, he was a 6-foot-tall Black kid. That’s the part he didn’t say out loud.”

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“I was shocked yesterday when I heard the police chief say the information we have now, it does not say that it is racially motivated, but there is a racial component, is what they’re calling it,” Navarro added. “Of course it’s racially motivated. Of course it’s racially motivated. He saw through the door that it was a Black teenager, and that’s why he shot.”

“It was his fear of the kid being Black,” added co-host Sunny Hostin.