Less than 24 hours: How fatal shooting of a prominent Baltimore County lawyer unfolded

It has all the hallmarks of a suburban dream. Set back 30 feet from a quiet street in Bel Air there’s a sizable brick home. It has a two-car garage, a large tree casting shade over it and a sunroom in the back. A yard sign alerting visitors to the home’s ADT security system is planted in the front lawn.

Inside lived Mark Thomas Ryan, 42, and Alexandra MacMeekin Ryan, 40, a Harford County native and audiologist who often shared glimpses online of the couple’s two young sons playing in the yard and riding scooters through the neighborhood.

But an incident inside the home May 1 revealed deep turmoil that would leave an attorney trying to protect his daughter dead and underscore how even victims who seek protection from domestic violence are not always safe.

“One of the most dangerous times for a survivor is when they make a decision to leave the abuser, and that’s what happened here,” said Katie Curran O’Malley, chief executive officer of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland.

The following account is based on court records and police reports of the hours leading to Timonium attorney Robert W. MacMeekin being fatally shot.

Alexandra Ryan and Mark Ryan were quarreling. In the midst of the dispute, Mark Ryan punched his wife in the face and said he would “handle this a different way” as he reached for the key to their gun safe, according to court records.

As Alexandra Ryan fled, she heard her husband’s voice once more.

“You’re lucky I cannot find the key,” he said.

She drove 16 miles to her parents’ home in neighboring Baltimore County. Her sons were there for a sleepover with their grandparents.

She told her parents what happened. MacMeekin, her father and a lawyer who worked anything from medical malpractice to personal injury and criminal cases, sprang into action.

The next day MacMeekin took his daughter to the Harford County Detention Center, where she filed a petition for an interim protective order against Mark Ryan. They did not report the incident to police.

In that petition and in her own handwriting, Alexandra Ryan detailed the incident and another violent interaction she experienced with her husband in the spring of 2024.

“He has kicked all parts of my body except my face when he was angry about something,” she wrote, noting that Mark Ryan had access to a revolver and desert eagle pistol.

She asked that Mark Ryan not contact her at their home in Bel Air or at her job, and that he surrender his firearms to police. Alexandra Ryan also requested custody of her children and Eddie, their Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

A court commissioner granted the order and an extreme risk protective order at 9:28 a.m. Alexandra Ryan returned to her parents’ home with her father.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office received the orders at 9:42 a.m. The southern precinct received them at 10:15 a.m.

Officers tried to serve Mark Ryan the orders twice at the Bel Air residence — once at 12:55 p.m. and again at 2:15 p.m. Both attempts were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said Mark Ryan was not home either time. Alexandra Ryan did not respond to requests for comment.

The fatal confrontation

Mark Ryan called his wife, sent her text messages and called again. When she finally picked up, she handed the phone to her father.

Mark Ryan asked about his children. He demanded they be brought home. But MacMeekin refused. He told Mark Ryan the children would be staying with him through the weekend. He also told him he was going to be served a protection order and needed to attend a hearing for it the coming Monday.

The phone call ended.

Mark Ryan drove to his father-in-law’s house in Phoenix and confronted him on the back patio. The exchange became tense. Mark Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun. He pointed it at MacMeekin.

The two men began to struggle over the gun. Alexandra Ryan and her mother watched in terror as Mark Ryan fired several rounds at MacMeekin, killing him.

After the shooting, Mark Ryan dropped the gun and sat in a chair. He stayed that way until police arrived at 2:23 p.m.

Officers from the Cockeysville precinct found MacMeekin suffering from a gunshot wound in the enclosed patio. He was pronounced dead just 15 minutes later at 2:38 p.m. by a member of the fire department.

The fatal shooting unfolded roughly five hours after Alexandra Ryan sought a protective order and less than 24 hours after she left her home.

Mark Ryan was arrested and taken into custody. Court records show he confessed during a police interview.

“Mark confessed to shooting and killing Robert, stating that he was angry that Robert was keeping his children from him,” the records said. “Furthermore, he was angry at the issuance of the temporary protective order, denying that he ever harmed Alexandra.”

Mark Ryan has been indicted for first-degree murder and the use of a firearm, in addition to burglary and home invasion charges. He is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center. His attorney, Richard Karceski, did not respond to requests for comment.

MacMeekin‘s death has rattled many people in the county and beyond. He tried to protect his daughter and took the steps experts say to take after domestic violence incidents.

Without knowing all of the circumstances, Curran O’Malley said, Alexandra’s decision to reach out to her family seemed to be a “smart move” and that MacMeekin also seemingly did the best he could with the information he had.

“It’s a tragic story, and it’s really sad that this hasn’t changed over the 30 years that I’ve been doing this,” she said. “There’s still so, so much violence out there.”

Family and friends of MacMeekin said goodbye to him last week during a funeral at the Church of the Nativity in Timonium. He will be laid to rest at Lake Michigan on July 31.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Banner reporter Darreonna Davis contributed to this article.