Lorenzo Gordon

On the evening of May 25, 2019, Lorenzo Gordon, an 18-year-old Caucasian male, was fatally shot in a Southeast Portland apartment complex parking lot. The shooting occurred around 8 p.m. at the Springtree Apartments on Southeast 162nd Avenue. A neighbor later reported hearing a gunshot and a person screaming, followed by the sound of squealing tires. When officers arrived, they found Gordon with a gunshot wound. He died at the scene.

Investigators later determined that Gordon had met Michael Christopher Ramirez in the parking lot. The two men began arguing from their separate vehicles before Gordon exited his car and approached the driver-side window of Ramirez’s vehicle. At that point, Ramirez fired a single shot, striking Gordon in the chest.

In the initial days of the investigation, police did not release any information about a suspect. The case broke open when authorities identified Ramirez, then 19, and linked him not only to Gordon’s death but to another homicide that had occurred just one day prior. On May 24, 2019, 44-year-old Sergey Peshkov was shot and killed after he confronted Ramirez and a group of friends who were prowling cars in the Lents neighborhood. According to the District Attorney’s Office, Ramirez shot Peshkov multiple times and returned to the scene hours later to view the body and brag about the murder.

Ramirez was arrested and charged with both killings. Prosecutors said that while in jail, Ramirez incriminated himself. In July 2022, a Multnomah County jury found Michael Christopher Ramirez, then 22, guilty on two counts of Murder in the Second Degree for the deaths of Lorenzo Gordon and Sergey Peshkov. His sentencing was scheduled for September 16, 2022.