Witness says Andrew Hammond was upset over $20 before gathering turned deadly

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The final moments of Brandon Munoz's life took center stage in court on Thursday as a Fresno jury heard from a witness who saw Munoz get shot.

"He slumped over immediately," the witness said. "I felt, like, maybe he might still be alive."

Action News cannot show or name the witness, but she told the jury she saw Andrew Hammond pull the trigger and fire the shot that killed Munoz.

Prosecutors have charged Hammond with murder for Munoz's death. They have also charged him with murder for the deaths of two other men: Fernando Gonzalez and Steven Rice.

The three each died in separate shootings beginning in 2020 and ending in the fall of 2022.

Prosecutors have been working through each shooting one by one, arguing that Hammond kills when he is angry. On Thursday, the witness said there was an argument before the deadly shot.

"Do you know what the subject of the argument was?" the prosecutor asked. "$20," the witness said. "The defendant brought it up."

The fight was so serious the witness said she nearly offered her $20 to end the argument. But things escalated quickly.

She says Hammond and others were high on meth -- and says Hammond was flaunting a semi-automatic gun during much of the gathering.

"He was clearly up too many days on meth," she said. "Making all kinds of movement with his hands."

Thursday's testimony is the first time jurors have heard from an eyewitness to one of the shootings. But after the prosecutor finished with his questions, Hammond's defense portrayed Munoz as a violent gang member and the witness as unreliable.

"How good is your vision?" defense attorney Richard Beshwate asked. "I have pretty good vision," the witness said.

"Do you remember being asked whether you could identify somebody in the courtroom? And that your answer was you had terrible vision, all you could see was a blurry orange," the attorney asked.

Beshwate says Hammond was acting in self-defense during all three of the shootings.

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