A couple days ago I mentioned how the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl had quickly become national news with a distinct emphasis on the fact that he was black and the man who shot him when he accidentally went to the wrong house was white. Yarl was an innocent kid who appeared to be shot for no reason and many have suggested he was shot because he was black. For instance:

My God.

These people will not let us be. https://t.co/FlSMO4OjmI

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) April 17, 2023

As it happened there were other instances of people being shot over simple misunderstandings in the days that followed. Two cheerleaders were shot when they accidentally got into the wrong car in a parking lot. Another girl was shot when she accidentally drove up the wrong driveway. And then there was this incident in North Carolina.

A 24-year-old named Robert Louis Singletary had recently moved into a home where a bunch of young children lived nearby. He was already awaiting trial for a felony and appeared to not like children. He frequently yelled at them for running through his yard. This week a group of kids were playing basketball in the street and the ball rolled into Singletary’s yard. He cursed at them for coming to get the ball and one of the kids told his father. The father went to Singletary and told him not to curse at his kids but to come to him if there was a problem. Singletary went into the house and came out with a gun and began firing at the father who’d spoken to him.

He completely missed the man he was aiming at but another father ran to rescue his young daughter and Singletary began firing at them. He eventually shot the father in the back and the 6-year-old girl was struck with a bullet fragment in her cheek. Singletary then went on the run. Yesterday he turned himself in at a police station in Florida. He will now be extradited back to North Carolina. CNN covered the story including the arrest and the injury to the 6-year-old child, Kinsley White.

The 6-year-old girl, Kinsley, said she was hit in the cheek and described to WBTV her understanding of what happened.

“I couldn’t get inside in time so he shot my daddy in the back,” she said.

The girl’s mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, told CNN doctors removed bullet fragments from her daughter’s cheek and noted that her own elbow was grazed by a bullet. She said they had nothing to do with the basketball game; the family was outside grilling and her daughter was riding her bike.

So here you have a story that has some common elements with the shooting of Ralph Yarl only in this case the victims are white and the shooter is black. CNN and NPR, which also covered the story yesterday, don’t hide these facts in their reports but they also don’t seem to be highlighting them in the same way. Stephen Miller pointed this out yesterday by comparing two of CNN’s tweets about the two stories.

Notice the subtle differences in reporting. pic.twitter.com/eubIEBYLK4

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 21, 2023

Here’s the tweet on the left:

A man who reportedly shot a 6-year-old neighbor and her parents in North Carolina has been arrested in Florida https://t.co/2EbJhiGWnE

— CNN (@CNN) April 21, 2023

And two more tweets about the same story from earlier in the day.

A manhunt is underway near Charlotte, North Carolina, for a man who reportedly shot and seriously wounded his 6-year-old neighbor and her dad when a basketball rolled into his yard https://t.co/ybkmGF4h7m

— CNN (@CNN) April 20, 2023

A manhunt is underway near Charlotte, North Carolina, for a man who reportedly shot a 6-year-old neighbor and her parents after a basketball rolled into his yard https://t.co/UsTChXSMij

— CNN (@CNN) April 20, 2023

Good for CNN for at least covering the story. It seems most national outlets haven’t so far. But compare those tweets above to CNN’s coverage just a few days earlier of the Ralph Yarl shooting.

16-year-old high school junior Ralph Yarl was shot and wounded by a homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings in Kansas City, Missouri, police said. https://t.co/wZooeptDs4

— CNN (@CNN) April 17, 2023

16-year-old high school junior Ralph Yarl was shot and wounded by a homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings in Kansas City, Missouri, police said. https://t.co/ueKU91VrKY

— CNN (@CNN) April 17, 2023

Update: A white man in his 80s is the individual who apparently shot and seriously wounded Ralph Yarl, a Black teen, according to a CNN review of property records, police statements and detention records. https://t.co/saHZHpZb2d

— CNN (@CNN) April 17, 2023

JUST IN: Prosecutor announces two felony charges against White homeowner accused of shooting and seriously wounding Black Kansas City teenager, Ralph Yarl.https://t.co/yxwnU8gagt

— CNN (@CNN) April 17, 2023

In an interview with CNN's @jaketapper, Attorney Benjamin Crump gives an update on the condition of his client Ralph Yarl, the Kansas City, Missouri, teen who was shot twice and seriously wounded by a homeowner after he went to the wrong house. Watch: https://t.co/CuuwP9hso9

— CNN (@CNN) April 17, 2023

Ralph Yarl, who authorities say was shot by an 84-year-old White homeowner after going to the wrong address, has received a positive prognosis but still faces a long road to recovery as his family fights for justice in his case, according to his attorneys. https://t.co/82eer4bCgO

— CNN (@CNN) April 19, 2023

The first thing you may notice is there are twice as many tweets. But also notice that all but one of CNN’s tweets about the Yarl shooting mention his race in addition to a sympathetic photo of him (to be clear he is sympathetic and I think it’s fine to highlight that). Five of the tweets report that the man who shot him was white.

By contrast, none of the tweets about the shooting of 6-year-old Kinsley White mention her race or include a photo of her either before or after the shooting. She’s a cut little kid and CNN did have a photo of her (it’s further down in their story) so why go with that drab mug shot of Singletary?

There definitely seems to be a different emphasis being placed on race in the Ralph Yarl story. Here’s the opening paragraph of that one.

A White 84-year-old homeowner who allegedly shot and wounded Ralph Yarl, a Black teen, after the 16-year-old went to the wrong home to pick up his siblings will face two felony charges, Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson announced early Monday evening.

Now compare that to the opening paragraph of the other story:

Robert Louis Singletary, the suspect accused of shooting a 6-year-old neighbor and her parents in North Carolina after a basketball rolled into his yard, was apprehended and is in custody in Hillsborough County, Florida, according to Gaston County, North Carolina, spokesperson Adam J. Gaub.

In one case race is made a central factor in the other it’s not mentioned at all. The words “Black” and “white” don’t appear at all in the latter story (except for the fact that the family’s name is White). In fact, it’s interesting that they didn’t use the girl’s name as they did with Ralph Yarl. Her name doesn’t appear until the 8th paragraph and then it’s just her first name.

To be fair, it is possible that race had something to do with the shooting of Ralph Yarl. Police aren’t saying it’s a motive but it may have contributed in some way. Was race a factor in the other shooting? Maybe or maybe not. What motivates a man to shoot an entire family of people who hadn’t even entered his yard? Maybe we’ll find out more at Singletary’s trial.

The point is that CNN doesn’t seem very interested in even raising the question even as it puts race front and center in another, similar case.

Update: I was curious how the Washington Post covered this. They have something like 8 stories up about the Ralph Yarl shooting.

“A White man was ‘scared to death’ of Ralph Yarl. For Black boys, this isn’t new.” which opens:

When Ralph Yarl rang the doorbell of Andrew Lester’s Kansas City, Mo., home by mistake last week, the 84-year-old White man was “scared to death,” he told police.

“White Kansas City man, 84, charged in shooting of Black teen” which opens:

An 84-year-old White Kansas City man was charged with two felonies after opening fire on a Black teenager who rang his doorbell after showing up to the wrong home to pick up his siblings.

“Homeowner who shot Black teen Ralph Yarl pleads not guilty” which opens:

The 84-year old man who shot Ralph Yarl when the Black teenager went to his door by mistake pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a case that has shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America.

There are more but you get the idea. Here’s the Post’s coverage of the Kinsley White shooting. “Arrest made in shooting of 6-year-old girl, father in North Carolina” which opens:

The man who police say shot a 6-year-old girl and her father this week in North Carolina, wounding the girl in the face and causing her father to be hospitalized, has been arrested, authorities said Thursday.

The Post story doesn’t include photos of Singletary or Kinsley White and the words “Black” and “White” only appear in the story once as a descriptor of race (i.e. not including Kinsley’s last name). Can you guess why? Here it is from near the end of the story about the Kinsley White shooting.

Last week, Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old, was shot and injured in Kansas City, Mo., when he went to the wrong house to pick up his siblings. Andrew D. Lester, an 84-year-old White man, was charged.

Unbelievable. They’re definitely handling these shootings a bit differently.