On the evening of September 28, 2020, family and friends gathered at a home in Fresno, California, for a Rosary, a ceremony of prayer and remembrance. Among them was Fernando Gonzalez, a 41-year-old father of four. The solemn gathering was shattered by an act of sudden violence that would claim Fernando’s life and mark the beginning of a serial killer's spree.
Remembered by his loved ones as a big-hearted and compassionate man, Fernando's life was violently cut short that day. During the gathering, a man named Andrew Levi Hammond approached and fatally shot him. The motive was not immediately clear, but the attack was later described by prosecutors as having followed an earlier argument. In the chaos that followed, Hammond fled the scene, leaving a family to grapple with the sudden and incomprehensible loss of a man they cherished.
For two years, Fernando’s murder remained unsolved, a painful open wound for his family.
The investigation continued quietly until a series of new crimes in the fall of 2022 brought a violent man to the attention of the Fresno Police Department. On October 21, 2022, Steven Rice, 47, was shot and killed after an argument. Less than two weeks later, on November 2, 39-year-old Brandon Munoz was found shot to death in a vacant house.
The investigation into the murders of Rice and Munoz quickly led police to Andrew Levi Hammond, then 28, of nearby Oakhurst. He was arrested on November 8, 2022, just six days after the murder of Brandon Munoz. As detectives delved into Hammond's history, they connected him to the cold case murder of Fernando Gonzalez from two years prior. On January 6, 2023, the Fresno County District Attorney's Office charged Hammond with all three killings. Ballistic analysis and eyewitness testimony would become key evidence linking the three separate shootings.
Hammond had a significant criminal history prior to the murders, including convictions for grand theft auto, felony evasion, and assault. His trial began on April 15, 2024, in Fresno County Superior Court. Prosecutors laid out the case, detailing how Hammond's violent reactions to perceived disrespect resulted in the deaths of three men. Though his defense attorney argued the shootings were acts of self-defense, the jury was not convinced.
On May 1, 2024, a jury found Andrew Levi Hammond guilty on three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, as well as three counts for the personal use of a firearm. On June 27, 2024, a judge sentenced him to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. For the firearm enhancements, he received an additional 75 years to life in prison, ensuring he would never again be free. The conviction brought a measure of legal closure to the families of Fernando Gonzalez, Steven Rice, and Brandon Munoz, ending the violent rampage of a convicted serial killer.
