Baltimore County attorney shot, killed by son-in-law in dispute over children, police say
By Adam Thompson
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BALTIMORE COUNTY, Maryland (WJZ) — A father from Bel Air, Maryland has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his father-in law, a Baltimore County attorney.
Police said 41-year-old Mark Ryan shot and killed 74-year-old Robert MacMeekin at MacMeekin’s home in Phoenix, Maryland Saturday afternoon.
According to court documents released Monday, Ryan allegedly hit his wife at their Bel Air home Friday and “suggested that he was going to retrieve a firearm from his gun safe.” She left the house and went to her parents’ home in Phoenix where the couple’s two children were spending the night.
She obtained a temporary protective order against her husband Saturday morning. Ryan spoke to his wife’s father and said he wanted to bring his children back home to Bel Air. His father-in-law told him, “he was going to keep the kids through the weekend,” the documents stated. MacMeekin also told Ryan he would need to be in court Monday for a hearing on the protective order.
Ryan then drove to MacMeekin’s home and confronted his father-in-law on the patio, according to investigators.
“Mark then pulled a handgun from his pocket and pointed it at Robert,” police said in the documents. “A struggle then ensued.” Ryan’s wife and mother-in-law told investigators “Mark fired several rounds at Robert, ultimately striking and killing him.”
Police said Ryan then dropped the gun, sat in a chair and waited to be arrested.
According to the documents, “during his post Miranda interview, Mark confessed to shooting and killing Robert, stating that he was angry that Robert was keeping his children from him.”
Ryan is now charged with first-degree murder. He’s being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center without bond.
MacMeekin was an attorney at Fine, Kelly & MacMeekin in Timonium. According to the law firm’s website, MacMeekin graduated from Michigan State in 1973 and earned his law degree in 1975 from the University of Baltimore Law School.
CBS News Baltimore reached out to the firm for comment but has not heard back.
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