Arizona truck driver sentenced for trying to kill ex-boss in Phoenix workplace shooting

PHOENIX – An Arizona truck driver was sentenced to 29 years in prison last week for trying to kill his former boss in a workplace shooting, authorities said.

Zane James Hammond, 34, received his sentence on July 31 after pleading guilty in November 2024 to one count each of attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office released this video today of commercial truck driver shooting up his former employer's headquarters in Phoenix in 2023.

The company's VP tackled the shooter and held him in a chokehold until police arrived. pic.twitter.com/qzbyndkBmf

— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) August 8, 2025

Hammond, who was based in Tucson, quit his job as a commercial truck driver after a minor customer dispute before the workplace shooting, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which released surveillance and police video of the Nov. 1, 2023, incident on Friday.

What did Arizona truck driver do to earn 29 years in prison?

Prosecutors said Hammond drove to his former employer’s headquarters in Phoenix to confront company leaders while armed with a shotgun.

He shot at the company’s president, who avoided injury by flipping his desk and ducking behind it.

While Hammond was reloading the shotgun, the company’s vice president tackled and disarmed him. The VP then held the shooter in a chokehold until police arrived.

“He drove to Phoenix with a shotgun and a mission to kill. That’s not rage, that’s premeditation,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a press release Friday. “Thanks to sheer bravery, no one died. Now, he will spend nearly three decades in prison, where he belongs.”

The judge in the case strongly recommended that Hammond be held in a prison that offers drug abuse and mental health treatment.

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