Ralph Yarl was shot after going to the wrong address to pick up his siblings. Photo / AP
Two men appeared in courtrooms in different parts of the United States this week, charged in shootings that came after minor missteps on everyday tasks.
Hundreds of kilometres apart, the two men stood in courtrooms, accused of shooting at someone who had made a wrong turn.
In a courthouse in Fort Edward, New York, Kevin Monahan, 65, was denied bail on Wednesday in a case where prosecutors say he fatally shot Kaylin Gillis, 20, after she and a group of friends mistakenly drove up his driveway while looking for another friend’s house.
In a small courtroom in Liberty, Missouri, Andrew D. Lester, 84, carried a cane as he pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, 16, who had come to Lester’s door mistakenly thinking it was the address where his younger siblings were waiting to be picked up.
The two shootings were among recent cases involving gun attacks on individuals who were simply lost, or had seemingly made a minor misstep during an everyday task. On Tuesday, in Elgin, Texas, two teenage cheerleaders were shot just after midnight after apparently trying to get into the wrong car in a supermarket parking lot. The police said Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was charged with deadly conduct, a felony.
In Missouri, Lester, who lived alone, told the police after the shooting that he fired his gun because he saw someone on his front step apparently trying to enter and was “scared to death” of being physically harmed. Zachary Thompson, the Clay County prosecutor, said that there was a “racial component” to the shooting but did not elaborate. Lester is white; Yarl, who was released from the hospital and is now recovering at home, is Black.
In New York, a lawyer for Monahan, Kurt Mausert, disputed the authorities’ account of the shooting Saturday night, saying that several vehicles were speeding up Monahan’s driveway, with engines revving and lights shining, which “certainly caused some level of alarm to an elderly gentleman who had an elderly wife.”
As the two men made court appearances in Missouri and New York, basic outlines of their histories were emerging from neighbours and relatives.
Neighbours said that Monahan, a self-employed builder and longtime resident whose home sits on about 40 mostly wooded acres, had a reputation as a sometimes surly character who loved dirt bikes and largely kept to himself.
Monahan, who is being held in jail, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. “He sincerely regrets this tragedy,” Mausert said of his client Tuesday, calling him a “decent person” who “feels terrible that someone lost their life.”
Prosecutors have laid out a vivid and frightening depiction of Monahan’s actions Saturday night, claiming that he used a shotgun to fire at the car as Gillis and her friends tried to descend his driveway. After the shooting, friends of Gillis frantically drove 8km down a rural highway, looking for a cellphone signal to call for help.
Adam Matthews, who lives next to Monahan and has known him for decades, said his neighbour could be aggressive and intimidating. “He was a difficult guy,” Matthews recalled, adding he was “known to have altercations with people.”
He added that Monahan was “always concerned with trespassing” and that the wide opening of his driveway resembled a road to some drivers. At one point, he said, Monahan had draped a chain across the mouth of his driveway, though the chain was no longer there last weekend.
In Missouri, Lester said little in court, speaking softly and answering basic questions, during his arraignment on charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.
Lester lives in a modest beige house outfitted with surveillance cameras, though city data shows there is relatively little crime in his quiet neighbourhood near the northern edge of Kansas City. Neighbours said that his wife was recently moved to a nursing home, leaving him alone in his house. He spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programmes at high volume, a relative said.
Lester, who had already been released on bond, did not speak publicly outside of his courtroom appearance, and attempts to reach him earlier were not successful. Lester’s lawyer did not respond to a phone call. No one answered the door at Lester’s home, and he did not respond to a note left at the house, which had a sign outside alerting visitors to security cameras and a “No Solicitors” placard by the door.
Klint Ludwig, a grandson, said in an interview that he and his grandfather used to be close. The two had become estranged in part, Ludwig said, because Lester had embraced right-wing conspiracy theories.
Lester used to tell his grandson about serving in the military decades ago, and recount stories of working as a mechanic in the airline industry. They celebrated holidays together with extended family who lived in the Kansas City area. Ludwig, who described himself as left wing, said that Lester kept a large number of firearms in his home, including rifles and handguns.
But at a family gathering during the coronavirus pandemic, Ludwig said, Lester began sharing a conspiracy theory involving Dr Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert.
“I was like, ‘Man, this sounds crazy,’ " recalled Ludwig, 28. “I told him it was ridiculous.”
The two have not had a relationship since, Ludwig said.
Ludwig, who lives in a suburb of Kansas City, described his grandfather as prone to making remarks that he considered disparaging about Black people, gay people and immigrants.
Another grandson, Daniel Ludwig, said in a text that it was not accurate to describe his grandfather as espousing extreme right-wing views and conspiracy theories, but he declined to comment in detail. “These people are not close to him like I am,” he said of other family members, adding that his grandfather was “literally too nice” and had “spoiled” other relatives.
Some neighbours said this week that they doubted that the shooting was racially motivated. One man who lived near Lester but declined to give his name said he had some sympathy for the 84-year-old, especially since he had been living alone after his wife was moved to a nursing home. The man speculated that Lester was frightened and disoriented when he went to his door with his gun.
Karen Allman, who lives down the street from Lester, said that while she did not know him, she was not surprised that the conflict occurred. Many of her neighbours are older, she said, and “set in their ways.”
“The fact that you would open up the door and just shoot somebody? I don’t understand,” she said. “If you’re that scared, why did you open up the door? And that gentleman has security cameras all over.”
Mary Clayton, 81, was married to Lester when she was a young woman, a union that produced three children. She now lives in California and has not spoken to Lester in decades.
It has been so long since she saw her ex-husband that when she initially saw his face on the news, she didn’t recognise him. Then one of her daughters called Tuesday, in shock over the shooting.
She remembers the 14-year marriage as troubled: 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.
“I was always scared of him,” Clayton said. “It doesn’t surprise me, what happened.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Julie Bosman, Mitch Smith, Jesse McKinley and Jay Root
Photographs by: Benjamin Cleeton and Arin Yoon
©2023 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Starship, at 123m tall, is key to the billionaire's Mars colonisation plans.