Ralph Yarl, the 17-year-old whom a white homeowner shot after mistakenly knocking at the wrong address, has earned a spot in the 2024 Missouri All-State Orchestra. The high schooler is one of four students to have secured a place. He will play the clarinet as the second chair in the band.

“Bravo to Eliza Cockrell and Stephen Kwon from Northtown and Ralph Yarl and Carter Walters from Staley! They’ve earned a spot in the 2024 Missouri All-State Orchestra or Band and will perform at the Missouri Music Educators Association annual conference in January at Margaritaville Lake Resort in Lake of the Ozarks,” North Kansas City Schools announced in a statement posted on Facebook.

Yarl was picking up his younger brothers from a friend’s home on April 13, 2023, when he went up to the wrong door. He came face to face with Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old homeowner, who shot him in the head and in the right arm as Yarl fell to the ground and ran away.

The 17-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury and saw a therapist. His family relocated after the incident.

“I’m just a kid and not larger than life because this happened to me,” Yarl told Good Morning America. “I’m just gonna keep doing all the stuff that makes me happy. And just living my life the best I can and not let this bother me.”

Yarl plays several instruments apart from the clarinet, including the bass clarinet, the saxophone, the tenor saxophone and the contrabass clarinet. He said music has helped him cope with the incident.

“Classical music kinda resonates with me,” he said. “Just the feeling that it creates and the fact that you can make it yourself … it kinda invigorates me.”

Yarl testified in court last August, according to NBC News. A judge ordered Lester to stand trial, while the man pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

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