The 84-year-old white man accused of shooting Black teen Ralph Yarl in the head for ringing the wrong doorbell “spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume,” one of his relatives told The New York Times. Klint Ludwig, a grandson of retired aircraft mechanic Andrew Lester, told the Times that his grandfather had frequently made anti-Black, anti-gay, and anti-immigrant remarks, and that he become estranged from his grandfather when Lester began spouting right-wing conspiracy theories. The two haven’t spoken since a family gathering at which Ludwig said he pushed back on a far-out conspiracy theory involving Dr. Anthony Fauci, telling his granddad the story was “ridiculous,” according to the Times. Another grandson, Daniel Ludwig—who told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he wished the shooting had never happened—disputed that characterization of Lester but declined to elaborate to the Times.
