The security guard who shot and killed a man in the parking lot of a North Portland shopping center two years ago has been found guilty of second degree murder.
The Multnomah County district attorney announced Tuesday that a jury convicted Logan Conrad Gimbel, 30, in the fatal shooting of Freddy Nelson, who was 49 when he died.
The shooting took place on the night of May 29, 2021, at the Delta Park Center shopping plaza. Gimbel shot through the windshield of Nelson’s vehicle, killing Nelson as he sat in the plaza parking lot.
Gimbel initially said he’d acted in self-defense and believed Nelson was going to run him over with his car.
The funeral program for Freddy Nelson, who was fatally shot by an armed guard near the Delta Park Center BottleDrop, May 29, 2021.
Courtesy of the Nelson family
Eyewitnesses questioned that account, saying Gimbel was never in danger from the vehicle and that he had stepped in the vehicle’s path to prevent Nelson from leaving.
The private security agency that employed Gimbel had been hired by a real estate company to guard the shopping center, in part because of the large crowds that would form around a BottleDrop facility.
An OPB investigation found that Gimbel was one of three guards with the security company who did not have a license to carry a gun at the time of the shooting. Along with one count of murder in the second degree with a firearm, jurors also found him guilty of unlawful use of a firearm and unlawful use of Mace. He was acquitted on one count of recklessly endangering another person — a charge that centered on danger to Nelson’s wife, who was with him when he died.
Gimbel will be sentenced May 23.
The Delta Park Center BottleDrop location where an armed guard fatally shot Freddy Nelson, a bottle drop regular, on May 29, 2021. The guard was an employee of Cornerstone Security Group, a company hired by the real estate company TMT Development to manage the crowd of folks lining up to recycle empty bottles and cans for cash.
Rebecca Ellis / OPB