After days of refusing to weigh in on last week’s shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old Kansas City student, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday broke his silence and accused President Joe Biden of politicizing the incident.
“I don’t want some 16-year-old kid to be getting shot because he went to the wrong house — we just don’t want those kinds of things to happen. It’s a tragedy,” Parson, a Republican, told The Star at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City Wednesday. “When the president of the United States is trying to make a political statement over a very serious tragedy, it is very unfortunate and I don’t agree with trying to make political points out of terrible — I’ve never done that since I’ve been governor.”
Biden spoke with Yarl and his family on the phone Monday and on Tuesday announced that he was inviting the Kansas City teen to the White House when he recovers from the injuries sustained in the shooting.
