Portland, OR- A Multnomah County jury convicted Geoffrey Edward Hammond today on charges of Murder in the second degree for killing Ryan Martin and Attempted Murder in the second degree for shooting Sam Gomez. The incident that happened in downtown Portland on October 11, 2023.
This was the second trial on the murder and attempted murder charges. In December of 2024, a different jury convicted Hammond of Assault in the first degree with a firearm and two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon with a firearm, but it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of Murder in the second degree and Attempted Murder in the second degree.
Brad Kalbaugh prosecuted both trials for the state – first as a deputy district attorney for Multnomah County and then as a special deputy district attorney from the Oregon Department of Justice where he is currently employed.
After the guilty verdicts, Kalbaugh said “The Martin family finally has found justice. Nothing Sam Gomez or Ryan Martin did that day warranted Hammond’s deadly reaction.”
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office would like to thank Portland Police Detective Ryan Foote for his excellent work on this case. We’d also like to thank Dr. Brandon Maughan of OHSU. Finally, thanks to MCDA Victim Advocate Allison Miller for the kindness and compassion they poured into the victims in this case.
THE FACTS:
According to an Affidavit of Probable Cause and witness testimony at trial, the incident began October 11, 2023 at 4:30pm. Hammond was driving a black Mercedes Benz for Uber and was stopped in front of the Moxy Hotel on SW Alder, partially blocking a lane of traffic at rush hour. Ryan Martin was driving a Toyota Tundra and was directly behind Hammond and was headed home to watch his daughter’s soccer game. Martin said something out the window to Hammond as his truck squeezed by Hammond’s car, and Hammond responded by giving him the middle finger. Martin quickly stopped his truck on the other side of the intersection and walked back to confront Hammond who had secretly begun loading a firearm. Within 1 second of Martin reaching the driver’s side window of the Mercedes Benz, Hammond rolled down the window and immediately shot Martin in the chest at close range The bullet narrowly missed his heart but pierced his left lung and his spine before exiting out the opposite side of his body and shattering a window at the Moxy hotel. Martin fell to the ground and landed on his back, unable to move. Hammond tried to shoot him a second time but the gun malfunctioned. Witnesses described watching Hammond try to fix his gun while saying, “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you in the heart.” Video shows more than 2 full minutes passed while Martin lay in the street dying next to the defendant’s car while Hammond did nothing to help.
As this was happening, Sam Gomez stumbled upon the scene. Gomez was attending a conference of the National Organization of Minority Architects at a nearby hotel. He saw Martin on the ground and Hammond seated in his car with a gun in his hand. Gomez held up his cell phone to take a picture of what he was seeing and was immediately shot in the leg by Hammond, who slowly drove away. In a phone call to 911 Hammond admitted to shooting both men and said he felt justified in doing so because Martin menaced him and because Gomez might have had a weapon. Gomez had been holding a cup of coffee and his cell phone. Both Gomez and Martin were unarmed.
Hammond faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the murder conviction.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jun 6, 2025 at 1:30pm by Judge Jenna Plank.
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