Homeowner’s Grandson Says Ralph Yarl Shooting ‘Never Should Have Happened’

The grandson of an elderly Kansas City homeowner accused of shooting a teenage boy who had mistakenly gone to the wrong house while trying to pick up his younger brothers conceded that the near-fatal encounter “never should have happened.”

“It’s just crazy. I wish it didn’t happen,” Daniel Ludwig told The Daily Beast.

Ludwig’s grandfather, retired aircraft mechanic Andrew Lester, shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in the head and arm after answering the door last Thursday with a loaded .32 caliber revolver in his hand, according to police. Lester, 84, told cops that he “believed someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door,” according to a probable cause affidavit attached to a criminal complaint charging him with two felonies that could put him away for life.

Read more at The Daily Beast.