East Portland Gangster In ‘Hood Check’ Killing Gets Life With Parole Possible In 35 Years

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sentencing for a Gresham man who killed a woman and injured two others at a MAX stop in 2022 was handed down on Friday. The perpetrator, Isai Damian Ramos, 24, received life in prison with parole being considered after he has served 35 years.

Gresham Gang Member Kills Bystander In 2022

During the trial, surveillance footage, GPS data, and trial testimony showed Damian Ramos was out bar hopping when he chanced upon the trio.  Ramos is affiliated with the Fremont Block Norteños set and had identified one of the men at the MAX stop as a rival. He shouted out a proactive taunt designed to elicit gang affiliation or ‘hood check.’

After rushing home to get a handgun, Ramos opened fire while driving past the MAX stop. 42-year-old Gladys Mendoza-Hernandez, who wasn’t a gang member, happened to be resting inside a brick vestibule with her back to the tracks and was hit by two rounds.

She had been waiting for a train at the East 148th Avenue light-rail station late in the evening on July 6, 2022, but died at the scene.

The prosecutor in the trial, Senior Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson, said- in arguing for a stiffer sentence, “Mendoza-Hernandez wasn’t doing anything to provoke the defendant. She didn’t even communicate with the defendant, but she’s dead now.”

Other crime news: Medford Murder Trial For 2022 Rumors Bar Stabbing Gets Underway

Multnomah County Jury Sentences Gang Member

During the sentencing hearing, Ramos showed only defiance, claiming he hadn’t received a fair trial and pronouncing the case would be overturned on appeal, despite that a Multnomah County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder earlier this month for the killing of  Mendoza-Hernandez.

The defense attorneys asked for life in prison with the chance of parole in 25 years- the minimum mandatory sentence but- citing the pernicious effect of “rampant and senseless gun violence in the community,” Jackson asked for parole in 35 years. Amy Baggio, the Circuit Judge, followed the prosecutor’s recommendation, imposing the higher sentence.

For firing at two other men on the platform, wounding one of them in both feet, Ramos was also convicted by jurors of two counts of attempted murder, second-degree assault, and the unlawful use of a weapon.