Richmond police on Wednesday identified the man was shot to death on Nov. 8 as 20-year-old Griffin Hammond.
Hammond was killed at Potrero Avenue and Carlson Boulevard in Richmond at about 8:09 p.m., police said in a press release. Officers responded to multiple reports of shots fired at that location, a busy intersection in the south part of the city off Interstate 580 near the Laurel Park neighborhood. When they arrived they were unable to save Hammond, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A short time later, police said, a second person arrived at a local trauma center with a gunshot wound. Investigators are trying to determine if the person was involved in the earlier incident.
Hammond’s family stated in a GoFundMe campaign that he was the only child of his mother, Sarah.
“There are no words to describe the pain and grief the loss of our brother, protector, companion, and dear friend has caused to so many,” the family wrote on the GoFundMe. “Griffin was genuinely one of a kind. His kind, empathetic, and caring soul was a gift to anyone who was blessed enough to spend time with him. He was only twenty years old. Griffin was the type to stop and chat with a stranger who looked like they were having a hard day, spend hours saving a trapped baby bird, and join in on the celebration of anyone he could.”
As of Nov. 18, the campaign has raised $18,605.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Karel Marecek at (510) 621-1835.
The first two homicides of 2025, both also shootings, occurred at the same place in the Iron Triangle neighborhood.
On July 9 police responded to reports of shots fired just before noon at Eighth Street and Lincoln Avenue but did not find the victim, a man, until the next morning, about a block away. On Sept. 19 a man, 28, who was walking there was shot multiple times by someone firing from a car. No further details have since been released in either case.
