A Maryland personal injury lawyer was shot dead by his son-in-law over the weekend while trying to protect his two grandsons from the enraged father. Mark Ryan, 41, was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder following the fatal shooting of Robert MacMeekin, 74, at the lawyer's house in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, according to WBFF.
Sequence of Events
Authorities claim the shooting came just hours after Ryan's wife, Alexandra Ryan, went with her father, MacMeekin, to the Harford County Sheriff's Department to seek a temporary restraining order against Ryan. She claimed in her petition that her husband had punched her in the head just one day before, and said Mark told her he would 'handle this a different way' before searching for the key to their gun safe, according to the Baltimore Banner.
Alexandra then escaped the house with their two sons, ages two and six, while Ryan continued to search for the weapon. She also noted in the petition that Ryan had previously kicked every part of her body except for her face when he was angry two years ago. Her petition asked authorities to prohibit Ryan from threatening her, abusing her and coming to their shared home in Bel Air or to her job. She also asked for custody of their two sons, and possession of their corgi, Eddie.
An interim protective order and extreme risk protective order were granted at 9.28am, and the sheriff's department said it sought to serve Ryan the orders at 12.55pm and again at 2.15pm, but by then 'there was no one home.'
The Shooting
Baltimore County police said they then responded to a shooting at MacMeekin's home at around 2.20pm, where they found the personal injury attorney suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the back porch. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prosecutors now claim Ryan had continued to try to contact his wife throughout the day by phone and text messages. The last time he tried to call, Alexandra handed the phone to her father, according to charging documents. During that phone call, police said Ryan asked about their children and demanded they be brought back home, but MacMeekin said he would have the grandchildren for the weekend. He then also informed Ryan of the pending protective order and stated he needed to attend a hearing on the matter on Monday.
Following that call, police said, Ryan confronted MacMeekin on the back patio of his house and pulled out a gun. A struggle then ensued, which police said ended with Ryan firing 'several rounds' at MacMeekin, killing him. In the aftermath, Alexandra and her mother said Ryan dropped the weapon and 'just sat in a chair' until police arrived.
Confession and Defense
Ryan then agreed to speak to authorities without a lawyer present and 'confessed to shooting and killing' MacMeekin because 'he was angry that he was keeping his children from him,' the charging documents state. But Ryan denied hitting his wife, and following his first court appearance on Monday, his attorney, Richard Karceski, noted Alexandra never appeared in court to seek the protective order.
'The wife didn't show up at court, which is a very telling blow in my opinion,' Karceski said. 'If all of this happened to her, why wouldn't she go and continue to protect the order?' Karceski then argued in court that his client is not violent and has no prior record. He claimed Ryan brought the gun to MacMeekin's house for his own protection out of fear his wife and father-in-law would have their own weapons.
The lawyer also claimed the struggle only began when MacMeekin noticed the gun in Ryan's pocket and reached for it. Three shots were then fired, Karceski said, and the last one struck MacMeekin in the neck. 'All he wanted was to retrieve his two children and bring them back home,' the lawyer argued in court on Monday, noting that the fight on Friday stemmed from a possible relationship his wife was having with another person.
Karceski further argued Ryan's cooperation at the scene proved he was not a flight risk, but prosecutors argued the severity of the charges proved he had 'nothing to lose' by fleeing, the Baltimore Sun reports. They said in court that MacMeekin's life was 'taken away from his family for nothing.'
Karceski, however, told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday that his client 'regrets what happened to his father-in-law.' But you know, the words 'murder' and 'shooting,' they can take on different meanings in this particular case and I think there are two sides to whatever the meaning of the words can be.'
Aftermath
Ryan is now being held without bond. In the meantime, the Law Office of Fine, Kelly and MacMeekin released a statement saying it is 'devastated by the news of the tragic passing of our friend and colleague, Robert MacMeekin.' 'Bob has been an integral part of this law firm and the Maryland legal community since 1976,' the firm noted. 'As a legal advocate, Bob worked tirelessly to advance the needs of the clients he served. As a result, he earned the trust and respect of not only his clients, but also the legal professionals he came into contact with within the community.'
'We will be forever grateful to have worked alongside such an energetic, humble and determined advocate,' the law firm continued. 'To honor Bob's memory, we will continue to represent our clients with the same personalized attention and integrity that were his hallmark and will be his legacy, just as he would have wanted. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loving family, for whom he was always protective and completely devoted,' the firm added.
