Body of slain Cleveland officer returns to Monroe County, funeral services set

The body of slain Cleveland police officer and Webster native Jamieson Ritter returned to Monroe County on Tuesday afternoon.

Ritter, 27, was shot about 1 a.m. on Thursday as officers attempted to serve a warrant to Delawnte Hardy, 24, in Cleveland, Ohio. Hardy was charged with aggravated murder in connection with the killing.

Numerous police agencies provided an escort as Ritter's body from the New York state Thruway along Interstate 490 and other roads to Falvo Funeral Home on Route 250 in Penfield. A spokesman from the funeral home said the profession was expected to arrive between and 1 and 3 p.m.

Funeral service, calling hours set

Calling hours for Officer Ritter will run from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, 1295 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road, Penfield.

His funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at Browncroft Community Church, 2530 Browncroft Blvd., Penfield. A private burial is to take place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester.

On Monday, Ritter was remembered at a memorial service held at a Cleveland cathedral. During the service, his partner Officer Brittany Vajusi described her late friend as a dedicated, fearless and compassionate public servant who loved his family and friends.

"He was not just an officer, but a guardian of our community, a beacon of hope and a symbol of strength," Vajusi said during the service.

Who was Jamieson Ritter?

Jamieson Ritter, a Webster native, was a 2015 graduate of McQuaid Jesuit High School and a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard and served with the 134th Field Artillery Regiment as a member of the Ohio Army National Guard.

Jamieson Ritter joined the Cleveland Division of Police in November 2020, he was deployed to Syria in 2022 with his unit and then returned to his job as a Cleveland police officer in 2023, according to Greece police.

He is survived by his parents Jon and Karen Ritter and his three siblings Alysia, Jonathan and Angelica.

His father Jon Ritter, was a Greece police officer for three decades before he retired in 2013. Jon Ritter was driving to work on Christmas Eve 2012 when he drove into the "kill zone" on Lake Road where a gunman who had lit his house on fire ambushed four West Webster firefighters, killing two. Jon Ritter was lauded for preventing others from entering the neighborhood during the chaos of those early morning hours.