A Cleveland-area deputy U.S. marshal who was shot in the arm while serving an arrest warrant in the Glenville neighborhood has received the U.S. Marshals Service's Purple Heart Award, and for the first time, he's telling the story of the day a two-millimeter margin stood between him and death. Deputy U.S. Marshal Ryan Jasinsky, a former Navy SEAL, was hit as he and his team breached a door to serve the warrant, then returned fire before the target barricaded himself and was eventually taken into custody.
Jasinsky received the Purple Heart Award last month at the U.S. Marshals' annual awards ceremony, according to News 5 Cleveland. At a Cleveland ceremony, U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta presented him with the Director's Purple Heart Award, according to Cleveland 19. The man Jasinsky's team was trying to arrest had allegedly shot two women outside his apartment complex and was wanted on two counts of felonious assault, Jasinsky said.
Breaching the Door, Taking the Round
Jasinsky described the moment in slow motion: he and his team breached the door, moved inside, and the target shot him. “That's when he shot myself and we returned fire,” Jasinsky said, per the station's report. He said he knew immediately he'd been hit, even as the scene unfolded at an unnatural pace around him.
The 49-year-old man then retreated and barricaded himself for hours before surrendering, the same account states. A separate contemporaneous report from Cleveland.com described the standoff as lasting roughly two hours; the dossier accounts differ on the exact duration, so the precise length of the barricade remains unsettled. That outlet also reported the shooting happened around 8 a.m. near East 91st Street and Stewart Avenue in October 2025.
A Fraction of an Inch From Fatal
Jasinsky said he considers himself extremely lucky. “If it was 2 millimeters to the left or right, like I'm, I'm not sitting here today,” he said, according to the station's report. Doctors had to rebuild his arm after the shooting, and he was transported to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center the morning of the incident before being released the following afternoon, per News 5 Cleveland's separate report on the shooting.
Before becoming a lawman, Jasinsky spent a decade as a Navy SEAL, deploying around the globe, before returning home to northern Ohio to become a police officer and then a deputy U.S. marshal. He said he'd faced injuries and close calls during his service but had never before confronted that kind of close call involving a shooting. He told the station the incident was a memorable day he had not expected.
Back on the Task Force
After months of rehabilitation, Jasinsky returned to the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and to the U.S. Marshals' elite Special Operations Group, the station's report notes. He still carries the injury every day, he said, but tries to stay grateful and keep a positive outlook. Jasinsky said task force members pursue serious offenders across northern Ohio every single day.
Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fitzgibbon said Jasinsky's actions saved lives, and that the Purple Heart recognizes his heroic actions and sacrifices to protect both his team and his community, according to the same account.
The Task Force Behind the Warrant
The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force was formed in 2003 by then-U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott, more than two decades before Jasinsky's shooting. The task force was created after a fugitive shot and killed Cleveland Police Officer Wayne Leon in June 2000, according to News 5 Cleveland's reporting on the Glenville shooting. The task force now counts 350 members who search daily for suspects accused of murder, rape, robbery and shootings, and it has arrested more than 60,000 violent fugitives since its founding.
Every day before dawn, task force members prepare for their mission, tracking down suspects after weeks or months of surveillance, according to a ride-along account from NewsNation. U.S. Marshals, working alongside local law enforcement, bring tactical gear, firearms and K-9 units to execute felony warrants across northern Ohio, that report states. The broader U.S. Marshals Service recorded 74,222 total fugitive arrests in Fiscal Year 2024, according to government data cited by NewsNation.
