Mother and her adult son allegedly beat up 65-year-old woman on cruise ship amid argument



An Alabama woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting a passenger on a cruise ship. Meanwhile, the woman's son was kicked off the ship after allegedly striking the same senior citizen victim.

Kelli Lyn Ryan, 49, and her 23-year-old son Dylan Ryan sailed on the MSC Seascape cruise ship on Oct. 5. A day after leaving Port Miami, the mother and son from Huntsville allegedly got involved in a physical confrontation with a 65-year-old woman in the ship’s two-deck theater.

Authorities did not specify whether the victim and alleged assailants knew each other or what ignited the altercation.

WHNT-TV reported that the ship's deputy chief of security informed the Miami-Dade Police Department that Kelli Lyn Ryan was seen "hitting the victim with an open hand" after an argument around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 6.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said the altercation was captured on surveillance video.

The ship's deputy chief security officer said Dylan Ryan was caught on video striking the victim multiple times.

The police report said the senior citizen victim suffered multiple injuries on her face and head.

Dylan Ryan was booted from the MSC Seascape at the first port of call in Falmouth, Jamaica. Authorities said he was removed from the ship for unspecified “excessive behavior.”

Kelli Lyn Ryan was allowed to remain on the week-long cruise as it made stops in the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and MSC Ocean Cay — the cruise company’s private island in the Bahamas.

However, Kelli Lyn Ryan was arrested once the ship docked in Miami. She was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with battery on a person 65 or older.

Authorities did not specify whether the victim and alleged assailants knew each other or what ignited the altercation.

MSC Cruises has not commented on the incident.

The FBI said it had received 180 reports of alleged criminal activity on board cruises in 2023.

FBI Tampa Special Agent Mat Pagliarini and FBI Los Angeles Special Agent Matt Parker noted that incidents of sexual assault were the most common crime on cruise ships, followed by physical assaults.

The Department of Justice said there were 24 physical assaults with serious injury on cruise ships in 2023 — 14 physical assaults happened on Carnival cruise ships. There were reportedly 33 sexual assaults on cruise ships last year.

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Armed son checking into possible burglary at mom's home says intruder turned toward him with object in his hand. Unwise.



A gun-toting son who was checking into a possible burglary at his mother's vacant West Virginia home in the middle of the night this week told authorities he indeed encountered an intruder — who turned toward him with an object in his hand.

Unwise move on the part of the intruder.

The alleged intruder he shot was identified as 38-year-old Joshua Boone of Williamsport, Maryland.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office said a male called dispatch around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday saying he just shot an intruder in his mother's Inwood home on Winchester Avenue.

Deputies responded to the scene and found a male with a gunshot wound lying face down in the residence.

Deputies performed life saving measures until emergency medical services arrived, and the sheriff's office said the male was pronounced dead shortly after the arrival of EMS.

The sheriff's office said the Department of Criminal Investigators was called to the residence to process the scene for evidence and conduct an investigation into the shooting death.

The investigation revealed that the man who pulled the trigger responded to the residence after being told about a possible burglary.

The alleged intruder he shot was identified as 38-year-old Joshua Boone of Williamsport, Maryland. Police said Boone's next of kin were notified about his death.

WDVM-TV identified the man who shot Boone as Michael Marshal, noting that he told deputies Boone turned toward him “with something in his hand” after which Marshal fired his handgun. The station said Boone was found with a gunshot wound in the garage of the residence.

The case will be presented to the Berkeley County Prosecutors Office upon the completion of the investigation. Anyone with information about this case is advised to contact the Criminal Investigations Division at 304-267-7000.

Image source: Berkeley County (W. Va.) Sheriff's Office

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No charges will be filed against mother, son who claimed self-defense in fatal shooting of suspected home intruder



No charges will be filed against a mother and son who claimed self-defense in the fatal shooting of a suspected home intruder in Minneapolis last month, WCCO-TV reported.

What are the details?

Martin Lee Johnson, 30, was shot in the chest in the backyard of a residence in the 3300 block of 25th Avenue South on Feb. 22, the station said, citing police.

Police added to WCCO that Ring camera video showed Johnson hopping a six-foot-tall backyard fence before trying to enter the home through a rear patio door. He is then seen entering the detached garage through a backyard service door, the station said.

The 53-year-old mother and her 26-year-old son told investigators they initially thought the man had left their property after seeing him on camera, WCCO reported. With that, the mother said she grabbed her handgun, for which she has a permit, and asked her son to grab her rifle in their basement in case the intruder entered through an egress window, the station said.

The mother and son said they opened their patio door and noticed their garage service door was open, WCCO reported. The homeowner fired several “warning shots” in the air, and she and her son called out to the intruder to go away, the station said.

But Johnson walked into the backyard and wouldn’t leave, the homeowner and her son said, according to WCCO. Plus, they said he soon began walking toward them “with his hands near his waist area,” despite more warning shots and demands for him to leave, the station said.

Johnson was then shot in the chest, and police say the family members “remained at the threshold of their patio door” during the incident, WCCO said.

Police said officers responded after the son called 911, the station said, adding that Johnson, who was unarmed, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police added to WCCO that the homeowner willingly gave investigators access to her Ring camera video.

Police and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office stated “it cannot be said with absolute certainty” if the mother or son fired the fatal shot, the station said.

But a KARE-TV video report — which aired prior to the decision to not press charges against the mother and son — cited search warrant information saying the intruder was shot with a rifle. KARE's story, citing the county attorney's office, reported that the homeowner's son was in possession of a rifle at the time of the fatal shooting.

The KARE video report added that the rifle and spent rifle cartridge casings were found inside the home, and three spent cartridge casings were found on the deck, presumably from the handgun.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday didn't immediately respond to TheBlaze's request for comment regarding why it can't be definitively stated if the mother or son fired the fatal shot.

No charges

The county attorney’s office said it’s “declining to issue charges” after reviewing the police investigation of the shooting, saying the mother and son's self-defense claims were valid, WCCO reported.

The attorney’s office added to the station that it couldn't “disprove valid self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt," family members gave Johnson reasonable warning as he was approaching them, and the mother and son didn’t have “a duty to retreat” since they were technically inside their home when the fatal shot was fired.

About two weeks after the deadly shooting, Johnson’s family held a press conference to demand more information about the case from police. At the time, the family disputed the claim that the homeowner promptly called 911 after the shooting.

The following KARE-TV video report on the fatal shooting aired earlier this month, prior to the decision by county attorney's office to not file charges against the mother and her son.

Homeowner claims self-defense in fatal shooting of alleged burglaryoutu.be