Timonium lawyer shot by son-in-law helped daughter seek protection order, police say

Timonium attorney Robert W. MacMeekin drove with his daughter Saturday morning to obtain a temporary protective order against her husband.

By the early afternoon, police said, MacMeekin was dead and the son-in-law was in police custody.

Charging documents filed Sunday allege that the 74-year-old MacMeekin’s attempts to keep his daughter, Alexandra Ryan, and her family safe spiraled out of control within a few hours. Ryan and MacMeekin’s wife were present for the altercation and witnessed the deadly shooting, police said.

MacMeekin’s son-in-law, Mark Thomas Ryan, was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center. He is charged with first-degree murder and the use of a firearm, online court records show.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Lisa Ann Phelps ordered that Mark Ryan continue to be held without bond, citing concerns for the safety of his wife and family.

Alexandra Ryan wrote in a petition for a protective order early Saturday morning that her husband punched her in the head on Friday. Then, she wrote, her husband said he would “handle this a different way” and went searching for the key to their gun safe, court documents show. While he searched, she escaped, according to court documents.

She noted that Mark Ryan had engaged in violence about two years ago, kicking every part of her body except her face because he was angry.

She petitioned to prohibit her husband 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 young sons and possession of their dog, Eddie, a Pembroke Welsh corgi.

From there, the situation escalated.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said in an email that the agency did not serve Mark Ryan with a protective order. It was “later served by Baltimore County Police,” Harford sheriff’s spokesperson Cristie Hopkins said.

The sheriff’s office said Alexandra Ryan reported to the district court commissioner’s office at 8:32 a.m. Saturday, and that an interim protective order and extreme risk protective order were granted at 9:28 a.m. The orders were received by the sheriff’s office at 9:42 a.m. and by its Southern Precinct by 10:15 a.m.

The agency said it sought to serve the orders at 12:55 p.m. and again at 2:15 p.m. By then, however, “there was no one home.”

Officers responded to the MacMeekin home in Baltimore County’s Phoenix neighborhood around 2:23 p.m. Saturday. There they located MacMeekin, a veteran attorney at the Fine, Kelly & MacMeekin law firm, dead in the enclosed patio attached to the back of the home, according to charging records.

County homicide detectives arrived and spoke with MacMeekin’s daughter and learned about the “Domestic Incident” the day before. Alexandra Ryan told police she fled the home with their two kids and went to her parents’ house, where they spent the night.

Her husband continued to contact her throughout the day by phone and text messages, police said in charging documents. The last time, she gave the phone to her father.

Police said Mark Ryan asked about their children and wanted them brought back home, but MacMeekin said he would have the kids stay the weekend. He informed Mark Ryan of the pending protective order and stated that he needed to attend a hearing on Monday.

At Mark Ryan’s bail review hearing Monday, his attorney, Richard Karceski, said his client arrived at his in-laws’ home with a weapon knowing that his father-in-law and wife had guns. Karceski said MacMeekin noticed a gun in Mark Ryan’s pocket and reached for it, leading to a struggle between the two.

“All he wanted was to retrieve his two children and bring them back to his house,” Karceski said of Mark Ryan.

Two shots were fired, Karceski said, and a third struck MacMeekin. He added that Mark Ryan tossed his gun to the side and waited for authorities to arrive.

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Monday that the case is a homicide, but that the report was still being completed.

Jacquelyn Campbell, an expert in domestic violence and intimate partner violence at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, said authorities’ protocol after learning of a domestic dispute is to assess the risk to the petitioner. If a person is deemed to be at high risk, authorities are supposed to disclose that to the victim and connect them to a domestic violence hotline or organization, she said.

When carrying out temporary protective orders, law enforcement can also remove an abuser from a home and confiscate their firearms.

But according to Campbell, it seemed there “wasn’t enough time” for police to get the protective order in place and serve Mark Ryan.

Baltimore County Police records of the confrontation differ from Mark Ryan’s defense. The charging documents state he drove to the MacMeekin residence and confronted his father-in-law on the patio. Police said he pointed a handgun at MacMeekin and a struggle ensued. MacMeekin’s wife and daughter said Mark Ryan fired several rounds and eventually killed their husband and father, according to charging documents.

Both accounts acknowledged that Mark Ryan dropped the gun after the shooting and waited until officers arrived before he was taken into custody.

Mark Ryan admitted during a post-Miranda interview to shooting MacMeekin, adding that he was angry at his father-in-law for “keeping his children from him,” police said. He was also upset about the temporary protective order. And he denied harming his wife, according to charging documents.

Banner reporter Shayla Colon contributed to this story.