Portland financier Geoffrey Hammond kills man in road-rage shooting before taking aim at filming bystander

A wealthy Portland businessman fatally gunned down a man Wednesday in the heat of a road rage battle — and then turned the weapon on a bystander who dared to film the murder, according to a report.

The eerie image captured Geoffrey E. Hammond, 46, pointing the firearm at Samuel Gomez from the safety of his Mercedes with victim Ryan Martin lying dead on the street.

Hammond allegedly fired two shots at Gomez, striking him once in the leg, before peeling out.

“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 told The Oregonian. 

The unbelievable encounter unfurled in the city’s downtown area when Hammond — who owns the financial company Aequantium — stopped his Mercedes Benz SUV in front of the Moxy Hotel on Southwest Alder so that it was partially blocking traffic.

Martin, 47, pulled up behind him and tried to encourage Hammond to move, but the two “exchanged middle fingers” as Martin drove around Hammond,” according to an arrest affidavit.

Martin climbed out of his car and tried to approach Hammond, who then began loading a gun despite admitting to officers later that he could see Martin was unarmed when he tapped on the Mercedes’ windows.

“It is unclear what, if anything Ryan Martin said while tapping on the window,” the affidavit reads, “but witnesses described shouting.”

That’s when Hammond allegedly rolled down the window and shot Martin in the chest.

Martin tried to plead with Hammond for his life — telling him, “I’m sorry. I had a bad day” — but the gunman allegedly tried to take a second shot at the dying man. The gun jammed, police said.

“You are lucky I didn’t shoot you in the head,” witnesses recalled Hammond saying, adding that the businessman also flashed a badge “as if he were a policeman.”

As Hammond continued fiddling with the weapon, Phoenix resident Gomez walked outside of the Moxy Hotel, where he’d been attending a conference of the National Organization of Minority Architects as a presenter and stumbled upon Martin’s final moments.

Gomez took out his phone to record the insanity and captured the moment Hammond got his gun functioning again and took aim at the cameraman, the court records state.

The bullet passed through one of Gomez’s legs and then broke the femur in his other.

Hammond took another shot as he drove away, but missed his target.

“Everything just changed,” Gomez recalled. “I’m just grateful that I’m alive because it could have been worse.”

Gomez was rushed to the hospital in stable condition. Martin, however, was declared dead at the scene.

Despite fleeing the scene of the crime, Hammond called 911 as he drove himself to the county courthouse, admitting to dispatch that he shot the two men.

“He believed he was justified in doing so because Ryan Martin menaced him and because Sam Gomez might have had a weapon,” the affidavit states, adding that he thought Gomez “may have been planning an ambush which he recognized as a military tactic.”

Hammond’s admissions were delivered with little remorse, the affidavit says.

The businessman told officers he believed he was being stalked by groups of people.

“Law enforcement interviewed numerous witnesses and obtained a significant amount of video footage of the shooting,” the affidavit concludes. “Not a single witness described seeing or hearing anything that would have remotely justified the use of deadly force.”

He faces multiple charges, including murder in the second degree with a firearm, attempted murder in the second degree with a firearm, assault in the first degree with a firearm and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

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.

Hammond now owns a $890,000 home in Portland’s West Hills, according to court records.

He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May 2023 for owing roughly $34,000 in credit card debt and closed his company Aequantium, which managed pooled funds that invested in commodities futures and related securities.

He founded Aequantium in 2020 and spoke about the venture at multiple conferences, including CoinGeek in New York City in 2021.