A wealthy Portland financier reportedly killed a man during a road rage incident Wednesday and then fired at a bystander as well.
According to The Columbian, the situation began with the shooter, 46-year-old Geoffrey Edward Hammond, idling his Mercedes SUV in front of a Portland hotel, reportedly partially blocking traffic. Behind him was the victim, 47-year-old Ryan Martin.
“The men flipped their middle fingers at each other, and Martin drove his truck around and through the intersection. … Martin then parked, got out of his truck and walked toward Hammond. Hammed began loading his gun as he saw Martin approach,” The Columbian notes.
When Martin got to Hammed’s car, he tapped the driver’s side window, at which point witnesses reported hearing shouting. Then Hammond reportedly rolled down his window and shot Martin in the chest at point-blank range.
“Hammond could be seen on video footage trying to shoot Martin again, but his gun malfunctioned. He could be seen trying to fix his gun,” according to The Columbian.
This is the point at which the bystander, identified as Sam Gomez, entered the scene by walking out of the hotel and then recording Hammond, to which the shooter responded by opening fire on him, hitting him in the leg.
Conference attendee wounded in brazen downtown Portland shooting: ‘He got the gun loaded and he just straight looked at me and then, as you can see in the picture, just popped me.’ @rogoway https://t.co/sk3wniDVK8
— Maxine Bernstein (@maxoregonian) October 14, 2023
“He got the gun loaded and he just straight looked at me and then, as you can see in the picture, just popped me,” Gomez later told The Oregonian, referencing the picture seen above.
Martin was pronounced dead at the scene. Gomez meanwhile was taken to a hospital and reportedly underwent surgery.
As for Hammond, he reportedly drove away and called 911. During the call, he admitted to the shootings but claimed they were justified.
“He believed he was justified in doing so because Ryan Martin menaced him and because Sam Gomez might have had a weapon,” an affidavit reviewed by the New York Post states.
The police did not believe him.
“Law enforcement interviewed numerous witnesses and obtained a significant amount of video footage of the shooting. Not a single witness described seeing or hearing anything that would have remotely justified the use of deadly force,” the affidavit continues.
As a result, he wound up pleading not guilty in court on Thursday to charges of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.
But there’s more. It appears Hammond is a longtime criminal who’s been trying to hide his past: “According to reports, Hammond recently changed his name from Jeffrey Edward Mandalis — who has a criminal rap sheet in Illinois with charges ranging from assault and vandalism to trespassing and domestic battery,” the Post notes.
Somewhere along the line, he changed his name, moved to Portland, and bought an $890,000 home.
ROAD RAGE SHOOTING: 46-year-old Geoffrey Hammond shot a man in the chest during an argument over parking, court docs say.
While the man was on the ground pleading with him, Hammond tried to shoot him again, but the gun jammed. He then shot another man filming the incident: pic.twitter.com/sjTWNmGkGu
— Savannah Welch (@svnnh_wlch) October 13, 2023
As for his work, he “founded Aequantium in 2020 and spoke about the venture at multiple conferences, including CoinGeek in New York City in 2021,” the Post notes.
He later filed for bankruptcy this past March after accumulating $34,000 in credit card debt and reportedly shuttering Aequantium.
New witnesses have since emerged, including a man named Muhamed.
“I just saw him (Martin) walk up to that window and he said one sentence. And right after he said that I opened the [hotel] door to go meet the people I was meeting, and I heard one gun shot,” he recalled to local station KOIN.
“There wasn’t even a back and forth. It was just like one statement, one gunshot and then I dove down and I was yelling at everybody inside to get down. When I looked back, I saw him [Martin] on the ground and I saw an arm and what looked like a gun outside the window,” he added.
Another witness, Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, admitted to watching Martin die.
“The police came and took over, and I just held his hand, and he was holding on, holding on. And I mean, you could tell he was dying,” she recalled.
Multiple witnesses, including Muhamed, believe the shooting could have been averted had Martin just walked away instead of confronting Hammond.
“Walk away. If anyone does anything to do, I don’t care how angry you are, walk away. Because if this guy walked away, he could have still been alive today,” Muhamed said.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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