KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jennifer Hudson, Leslie Jones, Halle Berry and other Hollywood celebrities have joined the growing national outcry over the shooting of high school student Ralph Yarl.
Ralph, 16, was shot last week after approaching the door of the wrong Kansas City home while going to pick up his younger brothers.
Singer Justin Timberlake called attention to the shooting on Twitter Monday morning.
“#RalphYarl accidentally rang the door of the wrong house while trying to pick up his siblings. For this, a man shot him in the head. Then shot him a 2nd time as he was on the ground. The man is free and the 16-year-old is fighting for his life in the hospital. This can’t be it,” Timberlake tweeted.
Police initially described Ralph’s injuries as life-threatening, but he was out of the hospital and recovering at home as of Monday.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who tweets as @Clydro_22, also expressed frustration to his 101,000 followers:
“Can’t even ring doorbells out here.. #RalphYarl,” he tweeted Sunday.
According to Faith Spoonmore, Ralph’s aunt, the teen intended to pick up his younger twin brothers on 115th Terrace when he rang the doorbell at a house on 115th Street instead.
In a video posted to social media, Spoonmore said a man answered the door, shot her nephew in the head and then shot him again after Ralph fell to the ground. An investigation is ongoing.
Much of the court of high-profile commentary has decided the shooting was motivated by race. Kansas City police have not identified the race of the shooter.
“I was a Ralph. We were all Ralph,” musician and music producer Questlove of The Roots, who is Black, wrote on Facebook Sunday.
Comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones was one of the first celebrities to tweet about the incident on Sunday. She retweeted Spoonmore’s emotional video and tweeted: “I want y’all to listen to this and tell me there is no racism in this country! This young boy smh I just can’t anymore!!”
Two hours later she followed up with this:
“What happened to this young man is the reason every black mother fears for their child! What the **** are (we) doing if we can’t protect our kids from these racist mfs!!”
Oscar winner Halle Berry demanded that the shooter be arrested and urged her Twitter followers to call the Clay County prosecutor’s office.
“His name is #RalphYarl and I’m sick and tired of this feeling,” Berry wrote.
Another Oscar winner, singer Jennifer Hudson, whose brother-in-law fatally shot her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in 2008 in her hometown of Chicago, used the hashtag #Ralph Yarl in her tweet.
“My God!!! Heartbroken for this young man and his family. Praying for his complete recovery! #Ralph Yarl.”
“Scandal” star Kerry Washington retweeted info about the GoFundMe account set up for Ralph and his family. As of Monday afternoon, more than $1.3 million had been raised.
“Instead of waiting around for #LoveIsBlind…make a phone call, for #RalphYarl,” Washington tweeted Sunday, referencing the postponement of Netflix’s “Love is Blind” reunion, which angered fans.
“Demand that Prosecutor Zachary Thompson make an arrest and bring the appropriate charges. 816-736-8300.”
Oscar winner Viola Davis, star of TV’s “How to Get Away with Murder,” posted Spoonmoore’s video, along with pictures of Ralph, on Instagram but limited comments. She wrote: “All hands on deck!!”
Trailblazing British supermodel Naomi Campbell also used her Instagram account to alert her followers to the case, exhorting them to “say his name.”
“Saddened and sick to my stomach. When will this stop ... heartbreaking,” said her post, which had nearly 300,000 likes as of Monday morning.
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