John Jefferson
De’Lawnte Hardy (left) pictured in jail during a court appearance on July 5, 2024 (WKYC/screengrab), (right) officer Jamieson Ritter (Cleveland Division of Police)
A 24-year-old Ohio man who allegedly shot his grandmother in the face with her own gun, leaving the victim “brain dead,” is accused of shooting and killing one of the Cleveland police officers who came to arrest him days later at a residence in the morning hours of July 4.
As a result, suspect De’Lawnte Hardy faces an aggravated murder charge in the death of 27-year-old officer Jamieson Ritter, reportedly one of up to 10 Cleveland police officers who tried around 1 a.m. to serve a felonious assault warrant.
Prosecutors in Cuyahoga County on Friday detailed that Hardy was wanted in connection with a Garfield Heights shooting that unfolded one week earlier, a shooting that they said has left his grandmother “brain dead” at a hospital.
Local NBC affilate WKYC aired video of Hardy’s court appearance on Friday, where a defense attorney asked the judge to consider “the lowest bond you can.” The attorney told the court that Hardy had a degree from Martin Luther King Jr. High School and that he supports “three people” through his business “working in moving and repairs.”
After the defense made a request for a low-as-you-can-go bond, the prosecution promptly demanded a $5 million bond.
Noting that Hardy was already facing a warrant for allegedly stealing his grandmother’s gun and shooting her in the face on June 29, a prosecutor said the victim is “on life support” and considered “brain dead” at this time.
Officer Ritter, reportedly the son of a retired police officer in New York, was fatally shot as Hardy tried to get away from an East 80th street residence in Cleveland on a bike, authorities allege.
“This defendant used deadly force in trying to escape, which goes to the […] assessment” of a flight risk, the prosecutor said Friday. “[Hardy] allegedly shot five times and one of those shots hit officer Ritter.”
The Cleveland Division of Police announced Ritter’s death later on July 4, noting that the “four-year veteran” of the force was also a member of the Ohio Army National Guard who was deployed to Syria back in 2022.
“Today is a sad day for our city,” Police Chief Dorothy Todd said in a statement. “Ironically, on this day designated for freedom, we are reminded of the evil that tries to impose on our community. However, despite our pain and hurt, we take in the immense sacrifice Officer Ritter gave, and we will honor his memory and compassion. We will continue to carry his legacy in our hearts.”
Cleveland Municipal Court records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Hardy’s bond was, indeed, set at $5 million dollars on Friday and that the defendant remains jailed in Cuyahoga County.
Video from the court hearing shows that the judge slammed the “uptick in gun violence involving young people” as “alarming, exhausting and dismaying.”
Hardy’s preliminary hearing has been set for 8:30 a.m. on July 17, records say.
In Ohio, aggravated murder occurs when one “purposely cause[s] the death of a law enforcement officer whom the offender knows or has reasonable cause to know is a law enforcement officer” in two circumstances:
(1) The victim, at the time of the commission of the offense, is engaged in the victim’s duties.
(2) It is the offender’s specific purpose to kill a law enforcement officer.
The punishment upon conviction is life in prison or the death penalty
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