PORTLAND, Ore. — 911 Dispatcher: "OK. So, you are the shooter. You are the one who shot them?"
Caller: "Yes."
That's how the conversation went on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 11, when a man called 911 reporting he'd shot two people in broad daylight in busy downtown Portland. One man died at the scene. Geoffrey Hammond claimed the shooting was self-defense following a road rage incident. The 47-year-old is charged with murder in the second degree.
So, what happened?
Using never-before-seen security camera footage, cell phone video, 911 calls, court records, press releases, transcripts and police interviews, KGW reconstructed the deadly shooting. Many of the records were obtained through a public records request after being submitted as exhibits during a November bail hearing.
Last year, 74 people died in homicides in Portland. Most of them were shootings. Seldom does the public get to witness such a detailed account of how shootings unfold or why. KGW felt it important for the community to better understand the brazenness of gun violence — through one brief interaction between complete strangers.
Warning: The images and descriptions shared in the following story are graphic.
4:27 p.m.
A black Mercedes SUV driven by Geoffrey Hammond slowly approaches the Moxy Hotel in downtown Portland. The hazard lights are flashing. Hammond is working as an Uber driver, waiting for a ride request. A security camera from the Galleria building facing northwest shows Hammond pull into a parking space along Southwest Alder Street and 10th Avenue. His vehicle sticks out from the curb a bit, slightly impeding traffic. Several cars pass by.
4:29 p.m.
A gray Toyota Tundra truck driven by Ryan Martin of Southwest Washington drives past Hammond’s vehicle on Southwest Alder. “The two drivers exchanged middle fingers,” a probable cause affidavit reads.
Another security camera, located outside the Moxy Hotel, facing south, captures an image of Martin’s gray Toyota truck stopping on the other side of the intersection. Martin gets out and walks back across the street without closing his truck’s driver-side door, and approaches Hammond's SUV.
There is no audio on the security camera video. Witnesses describe shouting, according to the court documents. Hammond is seated in the driver’s seat of his Mercedes. Martin is standing outside. The two strangers interact for 13 seconds.
4:30 p.m.
The security camera video shows Martin fall to the ground. The sound of gunfire sends people on the street ducking for cover.
Through the hotel’s dark windows, Hammond is seen holding his gun outside the driver’s side window. Martin is on his back next to Hammond’s vehicle, cell phone video shows. Hammond admits that he tries to shoot the victim again, but the gun jams. Hammond says — Martin pleads, “I’m sorry. I had a bad day.”
Martin is unarmed. The 47-year-old dies at the scene. He is a husband, a father, a youth sports coach and a master electrician.
For nearly two minutes, the video shows people in busy downtown Portland walking past the scene — either unaware or unmoved.
4:32 p.m.
A man visiting Portland for a conference of the National Organization of Minority Architects walks down the sidewalk. He notices something around the corner and lifts his cell phone to take photos.
Hammond responds, pointing his gun and firing. The man, Sam Gomez, falls to the sidewalk in pain. The bullet goes through one leg and breaks the femur in the other. He survives.
Hammond slowly drives away. He fires again, missing Gomez.
The 911 call
Hammond drives through downtown Portland. He calls 911 from his cell phone.
911 Dispatcher: “911. What’s the address of your emergency?”
Caller: “Ah, you know it was right by Jake’s. I had somebody, like road rage me and come out of their car and start hitting my window. I shot him and then somebody else was like pointing something else at me and I shot at them too.”
Hammond is calm, almost casual in his conversation telling the dispatcher that he left the scene and the victims. He is apparently unaware that Martin was fatally injured.
911 Dispatcher: “Ok. Do you have eyes on them right now?
Caller: “No, I drove away. I wasn’t going to stay on the scene and get mobbed and like have to shoot more people. They are both alive, and so. I am pulling into the parking lot by the Multnomah County Justice Center. I thought you guys are going to want to take me in or interview me and whatever.”
Hammond turns himself in to the police on the top floor of a parking garage across from the county courthouse.
The interview
Hammond speaks with detectives. Timestamps on the videos show the interview began before 10:25 p.m. and continued until at least 11:05 p.m., but only two two clips were released in court, with a gap of just under half an hour between them.
Court proceedings
In court papers, Hammond’s defense lawyers say they intend to rely on a defense of self-defense.
“The paramount issue is what was going on in the person’s mind,” said defense lawyer Joseph Westover during the November bail hearing. “Mr. Hammond said over and over again, during his interrogation, that he believed he needed to act in self-defense.”
Prosecutors argue this was murder.
“The idea that somehow what the defendant did on October 11 is justified by self-defense is simply preposterous,” said prosecutor Brad Kalbaugh.
According to Oregon law, a person may use deadly physical force in self-defense if the other person is committing or attempting to commit a felony involving the use or threatened imminent use of physical force against a person, committing or attempting to commit a burglary in a dwelling or using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force against another person.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Jenna Plank denied bail following the hearing.
“There is not, at least by this court’s view, statements even subjectively by Mr. Hammond that he reasonably believed that Mr. Martin was committing or attempting to commit a felony involving the use or threatened use of physical force,” said Plank.
Hammond is scheduled for trial in August.