As Ronnie Ortiz-Magro faces kidnapping charges following an alleged attack on on-again, off-again girlfriend Jen Harley Friday, the Jersey Shore star insists he wasn’t wielding a knife prior to being tased by police and arrested. A source close to the MTV star told TMZ Monday that Ortiz-Magro is insistent he wasn’t holding a weapon and was simply trying to protect 18-month-old daughter Ariana during the alleged domestic violence incident.
The source added the Jersey Shore star claims he confronted Harley because he feared she was trying to take their daughter away from their AirBnb rental home. Surveillance video obtained by TMZ Saturday showed Harley running barefoot and triggering the motion sensor light on a neighbor’s property as she tried to open the property gate and checked to see if the trunk of the neighbor’s car was unlocked.
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The neighbor told TMZ Harley also knocked on their door asking for help, but they were afraid to let her in and called police. She also told the outlet she saw Harley try to drop Ariana over the fence as a shirtless Ortiz-Magro approached, hit Harley in a scuffle and took the baby from her.
When police arrived, the 33-year-old reality star refused to open the door, causing officers to break down the door and tase an allegedly resistant Ortiz-Magro, who was taken from the scene on a gurney. He was released from jail after being held on $100,000 bail for kidnapping charges.
Ortiz-Magro have a long and concerning history of violent confrontations, including Harley facing domestic violence charges herself in January after allegedly hitting Ortiz-Magro in the face with an ashtray during a fight that broke out, but had the case against her dropped when the reality personality refused to cooperate with police. In June 2018, she was also arrested on since-dropped domestic violence charges after allegedly dragging Ortiz-Magro behind a car mid-argument
Just hours before his arrest, Ortiz-Magro shut down accusations from his fellow Jersey Shore Family Vacation stars that his relationship with the mother of his daughter is “toxic” in an interview with Us Weekly.
“Honestly, even though everyone thinks we’re toxic, she really does balance me out,” he told the outlet. “She really does keep me level because with her I have her and the baby, which is a family, which is what I want at the end of the day.”
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