In the early morning hours of May 19, 2017, Ramon Harris, a 34-year-old Black/African American man, arrived with a large group at the Xpose club on Southwest Canyon Road in Beaverton, Oregon. An argument soon broke out inside the establishment between his group and another group of men, both of which authorities later said had ties to various Portland-area gangs.
The conflict spilled out into the parking lot after one of the men from the opposing group, Jimmy Travon Pierce, was seen exiting the club shortly before Harris.
Outside the club, the verbal altercation escalated to deadly violence. Around 1:35 a.m., Pierce opened fire, striking Harris multiple times in the head and chest. Another man, Robert Nelson, was also targeted but managed to escape injury by diving for cover behind parked vehicles, which were later found to have bullet damage. Harris was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries but did not survive. The shooter fled the scene before law enforcement arrived, leaving investigators with eight spent shell casings and a complex case that was believed to be gang-related.
For years, the investigation into Harris's murder continued. Detectives meticulously pieced together evidence, including surveillance footage from inside the nightclub. A significant breakthrough came when they used the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to connect the shell casings from the crime scene to a different shooting that had occurred just six days earlier in Southeast Portland. This link allowed investigators to obtain cell phone data that placed Pierce at both locations. Further evidence came in the form of DNA collected at the Xpose club scene, which was later matched to Pierce.
After years of investigative work, a Washington County grand jury issued an indictment for Jimmy Travon Pierce. On June 8, 2022, nearly five years after the shooting, the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force located and arrested Pierce. He was charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, and felon in possession of a firearm. In December 2024, a jury found Pierce, then 39, guilty of murder in the second degree and attempted murder in the first degree. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years to be served, receiving an additional consecutive sentence of 130 months.
