According to a report, a wealthy businessman in Portland shot and k*illed a man on Wednesday during a road rage incident. He then turned the gun on a bystander who dared to film the mu*rder.
The creepy picture showed Geoffrey E. Hammond, 46, pointing the gun at Samuel Gomez from the safety of his Mercedes while Ryan Martin was lying dead in the street.
It is said that Hammond fired two shots at Gomez, hitting him once in the leg before running away.
Gomez told The Oregonian, “He pulled out the gun, looked me straight in the eye, and then, as you can see in the picture, just popped me.”
The strange event happened in the downtown area of the city when Hammond, who owns the financial company Aequantium, stopped his Mercedes Benz SUV in front of the Moxy Hotel on Southwest Alder, blocking some traffic.
An arrest affidavit says Martin, 47, pulled up behind Hammond and tried to get him to move, but the two “exchanged middle fingers” as Martin drove around Hammond.
Martin got out of his Mercedes and tried to talk to Hammond. Hammond started loading a gun, even though he later told police that he saw Martin wasn’t carrying a gun when he tapped on the windows of the Mercedes.
The affidavit says, “It is unclear what, if anything, Ryan Martin said while tapping on the window, but witnesses said he was shouting.”
That’s when Hammond is said to have shot Martin in the chest by rolling down the window.
Martin told Hammond, “I’m sorry,” and begged him to save his life. “I had a bad day,” but the k*iller is said to have tried to shoot the man again as he was dying. Police say the gun got stuck.
Witnesses said Hammond said, “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you in the head.” The businessman also flashed a badge “like he was a police officer.”
As Hammond continued to play with the gun, Gomez, who lived in Phoenix, walked out of the Moxy Hotel, where he was a presenter at a National Organization of Minority Architects conference, and saw Martin’s last moments.
In order to record the crazy events, Gomez pulled out his phone and caught Hammond firing his gun at the cameraman, according to court records.
The bullet went through one of Gomez’s legs and broke the femur in the other.
As Hammond drove off, he took another shot but missed the mark.
“I remember how everything just changed,” Gomez said. “I’m thankful I’m alive; things could have been worse.”
Gomez was taken to the hospital quickly and isn’t in any danger. Martin, on the other hand, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Even though Hammond had already left the scene of the crime, he called 911 on his way to the county courthouse and admitted to the operator that he had shot the two men.
The affidavit says, “He thought he was allowed to do so because Ryan Martin had threatened him and because Sam Gomez might have had a weapon.” It also says that he thought Gomez “may have been planning an ambush, which he knew was a military tactic.”
The affidavit says Hammond’s admissions were made without much regret.
The businessman told police that he thought groups of people were following him around.
To sum up, the affidavit says, “Law enforcement talked to many witnesses and got a lot of video footage of the shooting.” “Not a single witness said they saw or heard anything that even remotely fit the bill for deadly force.”
On top of that, he is charged with mur*der in the second degree with a gun, attempted mur*der in the second degree with a gun, assault in the first degree with a gun, and two counts of gun crimes.
Reports say that Hammond recently changed his name from Jeffrey Edward Mandalis. Mandalis has a criminal record in Illinois for charges such as assault, vandalism, trespassing, and domestic battery.
Court records show that Hammond now owns a $890,000 home in Portland’s West Hills.
He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May 2023 because he owed about $34,000 on credit cards. He also shut down his company, Aequantium, which managed a pool of money that invested in commodities futures and other related securities.
He started Aequantium in 2020 and talked about it at a number of conferences, such as CoinGeek in New York City in 2021.
