CLEVELAND (TCN) — A 24-year-old man has been charged with multiple counts of murder for allegedly killing his grandmother and a police officer who was trying to arrest him following a standoff.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, on June 29 at around 1 a.m., one of Beatrice Porter’s family members went to her home on Reindeer Avenue and Claremont Boulevard in Garfield Heights and found the 63-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. The relative contacted Garfield Heights Police, and Porter was transported to a hospital for her injuries. Porter died July 4 at 12 p.m.
The suspect and Porter’s grandson, Delawnte Hardy, had reportedly been staying with Porter when the incident occurred. The prosecutor’s office alleges Hardy stole his grandmother’s gun, shot her in the head on June 28, and fled the scene on his grandfather’s bicycle.
In the early morning hours of July 4, the Cleveland Division of Police learned Hardy was at a residence on East 80th Street and Wade Park Avenue. Several officers, including Jamieson Ritter, went to the home and placed a spotlight on it, demanding Hardy come outside with his hands up. Hardy reportedly went out the back door of the residence with two swords and the same firearm and fled on his bicycle.
The prosecutor’s office said multiple officers tried to apprehend Hardy as he biked off. Hardy shot at officers four times, and one struck Officer Ritter. Another shot “nearly missed another officer, and the third shot was in the direction of the other two officers.”
Ritter was taken to a hospital, where he died.
On June 10, a Cuyahoga County grand jury returned an indictment against Hardy charging him with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, one count of murder, four counts of felonious assault, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of having weapons while under disability, one count of theft, one count of resisting arrest, and one count of misdemeanor theft.
According to Cleveland Police, Ritter was a graduate of Syracuse University in New York and had been stationed with the Army National Guard. He joined the Cleveland Division of Police in November 2020.