Mark Thomas Ryan arrived at his in-laws’ Phoenix, Maryland, house with a loaded handgun tucked in his pocket.
Hours earlier, native regulation enforcement had issued a short lived restraining order in opposition to him, after his spouse alleged Ryan had struck and threatened her the evening earlier than, in keeping with court docket information.
Now, on the house’s enclosed patio, Ryan confronted his father-in-law, a well-respected Maryland attorney named Robert MacMeekin, who had taken in his daughter and grandchildren.
Ryan pulled out the gun and pointed it at MacMeekin, resulting in a fierce battle for the weapon, in keeping with charging paperwork.
While each side are poised to argue the intent and culpability of the May 2 capturing at future court docket dates, what isn’t up for debate is what occurred subsequent.
MacMeekin suffered a deadly gunshot wound, charging paperwork say.
Ryan dropped the gun and took a seat on that exact same enclosed patio, ready for police at about 2:30 p.m. on the Saturday afternoon.
Once in custody, Ryan “confessed to shooting and killing” MacMeekin, telling investigators he was offended that MacMeekin was conserving him from his youngsters, the charging paperwork say. He additionally was offended he was topic to a short lived protecting order, since he denied ever harming his spouse.
In prosecutors’ telling, Ryan, fueled by his anger, deliberately killed his father-in-law, who was remembered by a number of mates as a principled and loving household man. Ryan’s attorney says the weapon inadvertently discharged in the course of the scuffle.
“The father-in-law was trying to grasp and take the gun,” Ryan’s attorney, Richard Karceski, instructed NCS. “I don’t think there was any intent on his part to point and shoot the gun at the decedent.”
Karceski additionally instructed NCS his consumer was fearful for his personal life.
“He brought (the gun) for protection because he didn’t know what to expect when he got there,” Karceski mentioned.
Bruce Laird, MacMeekin’s pal for the final 27 years, mentioned his pal cherished his household, and there was no approach MacMeekin would step apart after Ryan pulled the gun from his pocket.
“I think at that moment, (Ryan) was going to kill someone, and it wasn’t going to be (MacMeekin’s) daughter,” Laird mentioned of the showdown between MacMeekin and his son-in-law.
“Bob knew it may have been his time, but he wasn’t going to let him take his daughter and his grandkids,” Laird mentioned. “He fought for his life, and he fought for his daughter’s life.”
Ryan is being held within the Baltimore County Detention Center after a choose denied his request for bail. He is charged with one depend of homicide within the first diploma and a lesser cost for utilizing a firearm in a violent crime, court docket information present. Ryan has not but entered a plea.
Meanwhile, family members nonetheless attempting to course of the grief and shock of shedding MacMeekin in such a violent approach are getting ready to say goodbye. A funeral is scheduled Thursday in Timonium, Maryland, in keeping with his obituary. He’s slated to be buried at Lake Michigan in July.
The lethal incident began on May 1, when Ryan’s spouse later mentioned he had hit her and urged he was going to seize his firearm from his gun protected, in keeping with the charging paperwork.
Ryan’s spouse fled their house in Bel Air, Maryland – some 20 miles exterior Baltimore – and went to MacMeekin’s house close by, the place the couple’s two youngsters have been already spending the evening, the paperwork say. The subsequent morning, MacMeekin took his daughter to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, the place she obtained a short lived order of safety in opposition to Ryan.
Ryan, in the meantime, had been calling and texting his spouse all through the day, the charging paperwork say. She ultimately handed her cellphone to her father, who spoke along with his son-in-law. Ryan needed his youngsters to return house.
MacMeekin mentioned no, telling his son-in-law each youngsters would stay with him by means of the weekend. MacMeekin additionally instructed Ryan he was going to be served with a protecting order, and that he wanted to seem in court docket on Monday, in keeping with the charging paperwork.
That’s when Ryan went to MacMeekin’s house and the lethal confrontation occurred, the information say.
MacMeekin’s demise marked solely the fourth murder this yr in Baltimore County, which doesn’t embody the town of Baltimore. The county is presently on tempo to see fewer than final yr’s 28 homicides, in keeping with statistics shared by the state’s attorney.
Most of the homicides final yr stemmed from home incidents, involving individuals who knew one another, in keeping with State Attorney Scott Shellenberger, who famous variations within the circumstances surrounding MacMeekin’s capturing demise.
“It’s one step removed. Instead of killing the wife, he killed the father-in-law,” Shellenberger instructed NCS.
Ryan is predicted to face extra fees after the case is offered to a grand jury, Shellenberger instructed NCS. Those would possibly embody extra in depth fees associated to the handgun and presumably assault fees, Shellenberger mentioned.
Ryan is subsequent resulting from seem in court docket on May 29 for a preliminary listening to, court docket information present.
MacMeekin’s mates described him as a high-character one who would stand between his family members and hazard.
“I wasn’t surprised that Bob took care of his family in that way and was willing to sit down with this guy and resolve it, to mediate it,” mentioned Gary Bernstein, a fellow lawyer and a longtime pal.
Bernstein first met MacMeekin when the pair have been younger regulation clerks, he mentioned. They typically labored collectively, sending one another purchasers they knew the opposite had the experience to deal with.
Bernstein discovered MacMeekin was shot and killed when he acquired a textual content from one other lawyer, he mentioned. When Bernstein learn a information article about his pal’s demise, he cried.
Bernstein mentioned MacMeekin was decided to maintain his spouse and daughter protected.
“He was using the courts. He didn’t go to Bel Air and shoot the guy. He said, ‘We’re going to court and getting a restraining order.’ That’s what we do. We don’t settle it in the street.”
Larry Feldman, a fellow private damage attorney, was a member of the identical Michigan State University fraternity as MacMeekin. The pair would nonetheless use their particular handshake once they’d see one another at mixers, simply as they did at a latest occasion marking the primary day of the baseball season.
“I only saw him in passing and said hello. We didn’t have a significant conversation that day,” Feldman mentioned. “And now I wish I had.”
Laird, in the meantime, mentioned he’s left with a mixture of fond reminiscences, intense anger and overwhelming grief as he replays the day time and again in his head.
“I didn’t sleep for almost two days,” he mentioned. “I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept picturing Mark and picturing what happened and the violence of it. It’s been traumatic.”
Laird final spoke with MacMeekin an hour earlier than he was shot, he mentioned, describing it as a typical name the place they mentioned an upcoming golf journey and a few enterprise selections they wanted to make. The name lasted two minutes and 26 seconds and ended the best way most of their calls did.
“I said ‘I love you, brother. Enjoy the afternoon,’” Laird instructed NCS. “And an hour later he was dead.”
Laird mentioned he came upon in regards to the capturing hours later, when he turned his cellphone on and located a textual content from MacMeekin’s son. Laird was later so distraught speaking to MacMeekin’s spouse, he mentioned, he couldn’t end his sentences.
“If they were in danger like that, he would have stepped in front and made sure they had to go through him,” Laird mentioned. “That’s what’s going to get me through this, knowing that he’s a hero. In my mind, he died a hero, protecting his family.”