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.
“No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell. We’ve got to keep up the fight against gun violence,” Biden said on Twitter Tuesday. “And Ralph, we’ll see you in the Oval once you feel better.”
Parson on Wednesday pointed to other Missouri shootings and questioned why they don’t receive the same attention from the president.
“We have young men and women get killed in St. Louis and Kansas City every day. Does the president of the United States ever call those families and ask them to come there?” Parson said. “Did he call the families in Nashville, Tennessee that lost their kids and ask them to come to the White House?”
Parson was referring to last month’s mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville. First Lady Jill Biden went to Tennessee to meet with the families after the shooting. The president had said he was trying to get in touch with the families. It’s unclear whether or not he did.
The White House did not immediately respond to Parson’s comments.
Parson has often clashed with Biden over the years in a variety of issues ranging from COVID-19 mandates to federal gun policy. The governor did not comment on the racial elements of the shooting, which occurred after the teen rang the doorbell at the wrong house while picking up his younger brothers.
Yarl’s alleged shooter, Andrew D. Lester, an 84-year-old white man, faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action after he told police that he opened fire on the teen because he thought was trying to break into his home, according to charging documents.
Parson, Missouri’s top statewide official whose term ends in 2025, had previously refused to weigh in on the shooting despite a growing number of elected officials who have condemned the incident.
“For me to comment just because of the one situation versus all the other killings that are happening in Kansas City and St. Louis and we try to politicize it? It’s very unfortunate,” Parson said.
State Rep. Jamie Johnson, a Kansas City Democrat, said if Parson wants to bring up the number of gun violence victims in Kansas City and St. Louis, Democrats are constantly trying to pass gun reform bills to do something about the problem.
“My honest initial reaction is how dare you. You won’t let us do anything,” Johnson said. “And then complain that we are politicizing not being able to do something, because every single move towards full equity for people of color in this country has come on the back of a tragedy.”
As governor, Parson has a major role in overseeing Kansas City’s police operations, which is the only Missouri police force under state control. Parson, a former Polk County sheriff, is in charge of appointing four of the five spots on the Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees KCPD. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas occupies the fifth spot.
Parson said the shooting was a law enforcement issue, praising Kansas City police and Clay County prosecutors for doing their jobs.
“Kansas City PD did their job. They went there, they made an arrest,” he said. “Prosecutors did their job by asking for warrants. The judicial system did their job by bringing the suspect to court. That’s the way the system should work.”
However, the police reaction to Thursday’s shooting had garnered public outrage. Lester was taken into custody Thursday, provided a written statement and was released roughly two hours later. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said Sunday that police needed a victim’s statement before completing the investigation and that Yarl’s injuries had prevented the department from obtaining one at that point.
Lester surrendered to the Clay County Detention Center a day after he was charged by prosecutors. He was released on bail later that day.
Amaia Cook, a community organizer with Decarcerate KC, which pushes for policing reforms in Kansas City, criticized Parson’s comments and pointed to Kansas City’s lack of control of its police force.
“It’s not surprising that a governor who is enforcing state control over the KCPD and is attempting to enforce control back again over St. Louis is making these claims that this issue of gun violence is politicized,” she told The Star. “It’s actually fueling this dangerous rhetoric that we’re seeing time and time again in the Missouri legislature that only emboldens people to enact racial violence.”
The Republican governor also said Wednesday the he normally does not weigh in on most shootings in Missouri.
However, Parson has regularly commented on shootings of police officers in Missouri, including after Hermann police officer Mason Griffith was shot and killed last month. Parson quickly weighed in on that shooting, saying he and his wife were “praying for Mason’s family, friends, and fellow law enforcement officers.”
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(The Star’s Daniel Desrochers and Maia Bond contributed reporting.)
