Ohio police officer shot on July 4th

CLEVELAND – A Cuyahoga County judge has set bail at $5 million for a 24-year-old man accused of shooting a Cleveland police officer to death on July 4.

De’Lawnte Hardy made his initial appearance in Cuyahoga County Municipal Court in northeast Ohio on Friday, charged with felony murder for allegedly shooting Cleveland police officer Jamieson Ritter.

Ritter was shot on July 4 when Cleveland police responded to a 911 call from the Hough neighborhood where a man was wanted for aggravated assault.

Hardy was observed leaving a home on East 80th Street and attempting to leave the area on a bicycle. As officers attempted to arrest him, he pulled out a firearm and fired it several times.

One of the bullets hit Ritter. The officer was taken to the hospital where he eventually succumbed to his injuries.

10TV’s sister station WKYC reports that the judge said Hardy was wanted for a separate incident on June 29 in the Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights. The judge said Hardy allegedly stole his grandmother’s gun and shot her in the face.

According to the judge, the grandmother is currently being artificially ventilated in a hospital.

“The rise in gun violence involving young people is, frankly, alarming, exhausting and dismaying,” the judge said before announcing bail in court. “The damage to families, the community and society at large is immeasurable.”

Ritter had been with the police force for four years. Before his time in Cleveland, Ritter graduated from Syracuse University in 2019 and was a member of the Army National Guard. After joining the Cleveland Police Department in 2020, Ritter was deployed to Syria in 2022. He returned to Cleveland a year later.

Governor Mike DeWine on Thursday ordered the United States and Ohio state flags to fly at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds in Cuyahoga County and at state buildings in Columbus until sunset on the day of his funeral.

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