A Portland Uber driver who fatally shot another driver and wounded a witness in a road rage incident will never walk free again.
A Multnomah County judge handed 48-year-old Geoffrey Edward Hammond a life term in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of Ryan Martin. After an initial trial, which ended in a mistrial, Hammond was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
According to Yahoo News, on Oct. 9, 2023, during rush hour, the defendant had partially blocked traffic at an intersection outside of the Moxy Hotel on Southwest Alder Street in Portland, Oregon. Martin pulled up beside Hammond after both men flipped off each other. The victim, while yelling at Hammond, approached the driver's side window when the defendant retrieved his gun and shot him in the chest.
Next, the defender tried to shoot Martin again, but his weapon malfunctioned. Meanwhile, Sam Gomez, a passerby who witnessed the shooting, started recording the incident using his phone camera before Hammond pointed the gun at him, shooting the witness in the leg. The witness recovered from the violent ordeal at the hospital, but Hammond was declared dead at the scene.
During the trial, Hammond claimed he shot the defendant in self-defense, but the jury disagreed.
The judge sentenced Hammond to an additional 30 months for the attempted murder charge and to pay $30,000 in restitution to the victim’s family.
“My dad is gone. He is dead, and he was murdered by you, I’ll never be the same, he was supposed to walk me down the aisle at my wedding and you took that from me, said ” Martin’s daughter Emily Martin during the victim impact statement, reported KPTV.
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