A former University student who friends and acquaintances said had a goofy sense of humor, patience and a lot of potential was shot and killed by a police sniper on Nov. 4 after he emerged from a Portland home with a handgun.
Raymond Dwayne Gwerder, 30, who last attended the University in the spring, was shot once by Portland police after he held the pistol to his head, threatened to shoot officers and fired the gun once, without hitting anyone, according to a Portland Police Bureau press release.
Police responded after a friend of Gwerder called 911 and told them Gwerder was armed and making suicidal statements on the phone, The
Oregonian newspaper reported. Police said he had been drinking alcohol and had a history of aggressive behavior when drinking, the newspaper reported.
Gwerder was a biology student who had attended the University since fall 2002 after transferring from Portland Community College. This term, he was attending Portland State University, where he was taking the first of the last two classes needed for his bachelor’s degree.
University student Nate Grant, who worked for years with Gwerder at Market of Choice near 29th
Avenue and Willamette Street, said he attended a memorial service for Gwerder on Saturday and about 60 people attended. About half of them were his friends, Grant said.
Heather Simmons, a fellow University biology student and a friend of Gwerder, said he had a goofy sense of humor, even when he introduced her to the hot dog stand near East 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street, where he often ate.
“He told me: ‘This is your fat and salt content for the day. You just got to have one,’” said Simmons, who got a call from a distraught Gwerder the day he was killed.
Grant said he first remembers Gwerder’s sense of humor.
“He was the first to crack a joke, definitely the center of attention as far as keeping things lively,” he said.
Simmons said she also remembers that, “Ray was a good listener. He always listened to me for hours when I had trouble of my own.”
Grant, who met Gwerder about three years ago, said when Gwerder spoke individually with friends, he made them feel like they were the only important people in the world, and he was definitely a morale booster.
Gwerder, a former chef, also once brought Simmons sausages and potatoes while she was the University’s Science Library, Simmons said. His personal favorites were Indian, Mediterranean and Mexican foods, and he especially liked burritos, Simmons said Gwerder also had to work quite a lot at Market of Choice to support himself while attending school full time. Gwerder became disillusioned with his major and left Eugene for Portland because he was unhappy and frustrated here, Simmons said.
“He was one of those guys who was trying and was struggling, and you just really wanted to help him succeed,” she said.
Director of Undergraduate Advising and Research Assistant Professor Pat Lombardi, who worked with Gwerder in the biology department’s advising center, said the loss of Gwerder’s potential is what makes him saddest. Gwerder visited the office’s staff two or three times a week to ask questions and seek program guidance.
Gwerder became distraught because he felt like he was never going to graduate, Lombardi wrote in an e-mail.
“I think what we are most deeply saddened by is the tremendous loss of potential for a peaceful person who had (such a) good heart,” Lombardi wrote. “We were all so hopeful for him for graduating and taking the next big step in his life. I am certain he would have sensed a tremendous sense of accomplishment in graduating.”

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