-f254bbc3f7a1544d.jpg
mysticclub.jpg The Mystic Gentlemen's Club, at 9950 Southeast Stark St., reopened Monday, after a bouncer was shot in the head Saturday night by a masked man who returned to the club 30 minutes after he had been refused entry.
(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)
Thomas Eliott Hjelmeland, 2013 arrest
The masked gunman shot and critically wounded after he entered a Southeast Portland strip club and opened fire on a bouncer died from his injuries Thursday, police said.
Donning a Halloween mask, Thomas Eliott Hjelmeland, 43, allegedly barged into the Mystic Gentleman's Club on Saturday night and shot bouncer Brian Thomas Rizzo in the head, police said.
Rizzo had allegedly refused to let Hjelmeland into the club earlier in the evening after the suspect unleashed a barrage of rude and racist remarks while waiting in line, according to the bar's owner.
After the shooting, a second bouncer, Jonathan Baer, trailed the masked gunman out of the club, pulled out his own handgun and shot the intruder as he was walking out of the club's front door.
Rizzo, 26, remains in critical condition and in a medically-induced coma, friends and co-workers said.
Two other people in the club suffered minor injuries when Hjelmeland allegedly opened fire.
-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh