Andrew Lester, the 86-year-old man who pleaded guilty less than a week ago in the high-profile 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, has died, the Clay County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

The legal proceedings concerning Andrew Lester have concluded as he died while awaiting sentencing, the Clay County prosecuting attorney shared Wednesday.

Andrew Lester’s attorney, Steven Salmon, said his client had been in “seriously ill health for a significant time.” He said Lester did not die by suicide.

Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in the shooting of Ralph Yarl last Friday. The teen mistakenly rang Lester's doorbell in April 2023 when he was picking up his brothers.

Andrew Lester is expected to enter a guilty plea at a new hearing scheduled for Friday, which comes on the eve of the anticipated start date for his trial in Clay County Circuit Court on Feb. 18.

Andrew Lester died on Wednesday (Feb. 19), according to a statement from Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson. The news comes just days after the 86-year-old plead guilty to felony assault in the second degree for shooting Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager who accidentally knocked on his door in 2023.

Andrew Lester, the 86-year-old white man who pleaded guilty Friday to shooting Black teenager Ralph Yarl in the head after Yarl mistakenly rang his doorbell, has died, prosecutors in Clay County, Missouri,

Andrew Lester, the Kansas City man who pleaded guilty last week to shooting Black teen Ralph Yarl in 2023, has died while awaiting sentencing.