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The Cleveland Division of Police has identified the man accused of shooting and killing an officer overnight as 24-year-old De’Lawnte Hardy.
Cleveland police say he has been charged with aggravated murder.
What we know about the shooting
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said at a news conference that Cleveland police officer Jamieson Ritter was among eight to 10 officers who tried to arrest Hardy early Thursday on a felonious assault warrant issued from a suburban department.
Hardy tried to flee the scene on a bicycle, then pulled a gun and opened fire as officers gave chase, Todd said.
The officer was rushed to University Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead, Todd said.
Hardy, who police said was uninjured, was taken to a hospital as a precaution and later released into police custody.
Officer Ritter, 27, was shot in the 1500 block of E. 80th St. around 1 a.m. in the Hough neighborhood, according to Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd.
Jamieson Ritter was with the Cleveland police department for the past four years, assigned to the Third District.
In 2019, Officer Ritter served as Stalwart Battalion’s S6.
He was commissioned as a Quartermaster Officer in the New York Army National Guard in May 2019.
He attended McQuaid Jesuit High School, from 2009 to 2015.
