U.S. News
A Small-Town Ohio Sergeant Was Killed Alongside the Mother and Daughter He Went to Protect
By Mike Harper · July 7, 2026
The 911 call came in at 9:30 on a Sunday night. Shots fired during a break-in at a home on Chippewa Trail in Rittman, Ohio — a city of 6,000 people in Wayne County, about 40 miles south of Cleveland. Sgt. Scott Ries was one of the first officers to respond. He was immediately met with gunfire.
Ries, 54, a 10-year veteran of the Rittman Police Department, was killed at the scene. The suspect, 39-year-old Brandon Fazekas, also killed Christine McWilliams, 44, and her 13-year-old daughter McKinley before turning his weapon on responding officers. Fazekas was the woman’s boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, according to Wayne County Sheriff Tom Ballinger. Fazekas died during the exchange of gunfire with law enforcement.
Four Medina County sheriff’s deputies were also struck by gunfire. Two were hospitalized in stable condition. Two others were treated at the scene and released. Wayne County K-9 officer Vick was shot and underwent emergency surgery. His condition remained serious Monday.
Ries joined the Rittman Police Department full-time in 2018 after serving as a deputy with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and an officer in Sugar Grove, Fairfield County. He was promoted to sergeant in October 2023. His chief described him as someone who “demonstrated an enduring commitment to protecting others and upholding the values of our department.”
On Monday afternoon, hundreds of residents lined East Ohio Avenue as a procession brought Ries back to Rittman. The community stood shoulder to shoulder.
“For 10 years he wore the city’s badge and he gave his life answering a call for people he didn’t even know,” Mayor Rudy Arnold said at a candlelight vigil Monday evening outside the police station.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has taken over the case. The sequence that investigators are reconstructing: Fazekas broke into the home, shot McWilliams and her daughter, and then opened fire on the officers who arrived minutes later. Multiple police vehicles towed from the scene had visible bullet holes. At least six agencies responded.
Mora Miller, who knew Ries from the neighboring community of Doylestown, described him at the vigil.
“He was proud to be a police officer, he was proud to be a girl dad, a cheer dad. He was a great friend.”
Patricia Watts, a lifelong Rittman resident, said what the rest of the town was feeling.
“It’s beyond words what this town is doing and it won’t be just today. We will be supporting the family and doing everything we can to help them through.”
A 54-year-old sergeant. A 44-year-old mother. A 13-year-old girl. Three people who should be alive this morning in a town small enough that everyone knew at least one of them.