Cameron Cason not guilty of murder in Nottingham shooting, convicted of underage gun possession

A Baltimore County man was acquitted of murder Friday after his attorney argued that he acted to protect himself and his friends during an armed robbery.

Cameron Cason, 20, was charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses in the March 9, 2025, shooting death of Lafayette Sando Jr., 17, of Abingdon, in a Nottingham parking lot. Police initially believed the shooting stemmed from a sneaker sale gone wrong, but evidence later indicated Cason met Sando to buy a gun.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before reaching its verdict Friday morning. Jurors acquitted Cason of murder and a weapons charge but found him guilty of possessing a gun while under age 21, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Cason has been jail since his arrest in May 2025.

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Julie Glass ordered Cason to remain in jail until his sentencing on the gun charge Dec. 7.

Police initially believed Cason had arranged to buy sneakers from Sando, a theory based on information from one of Sando’s family members. At trial, however, text messages appeared to indicate that Cason had gone to the meeting to buy a gun from Sando on behalf of his friend.

The defense argued that Sando turned the transaction into an armed robbery. Prosecutors maintained that there was no evidence Sando planned to rob Cason and argued that Cason had instead set up Sando.

Cason, who had attended Parkville High School, knew Sando from school and told police he considered him a friend.

Sando was shot just before 9 p.m. in the parking lot of the Southfield Apartments, off the 4300 block of Bedrock Circle. He died from a single gunshot wound to the right side of his torso.

Police found a gun near Sando’s body and a total of $600 in his hand, in his pocket and on the ground around him. The gun had an extended magazine and a round in the chamber when police examined it.

Investigators used information found in Sando's phone to link Cason to the shooting. They also matched the serial numbers on the $50 bills to money Cason had photographed before the meeting to assure Sando he was serious about the purchase.

Defense attorney Donald Wright pointed to that evidence in his closing argument Thursday.

“If Cameron was trying to take something from Mr. Sando, why would Mr. Sando have that $600?” Wright asked jurors. “If Cameron and his friends were there to rob Mr. Sando, why even let Mr. Sando get his hands on that money?”

Police arrested Cason at his Overlea home about two months after the shooting. According to charging documents, he declined to speak with officers and asked for a lawyer.

Wright said that after he was hired to represent Cason, he concluded his client had a solid self-defense case and arranged for him to speak with police.

Cason did not testify at trial, and the defense called no witnesses. In his account to police, Cason said he and two other men drove to the parking lot together. Sando got into the back seat behind the driver, immediately announced a robbery and pressed a gun barrel to the driver’s neck, Cason said.

Cason said he also was in the back seat and fired his own gun to stop the robbery.

Wright argued that Cason was not the aggressor and fired to neutralize an imminent lethal threat.

Assistant State’s Attorney Dylan Gerry argued that Cason brought two other people to the meeting after telling Sando he would come alone. Gerry also questioned why Cason brought a gun to a transaction with someone he knew.

The prosecutor urged jurors to consider why Cason neither called 911 nor rendered aid to someone he considered a friend.

“He leaves him dead on the side of the road and goes back to his house,” Gerry said.

Cason’s digital records also showed that he researched self-defense laws after the shooting, Gerry said.

Police and a private investigator hired by the defense were unable to locate one of the men Cason identified as having accompanied him. Investigators located the man Cason identified as the driver, who denied knowing Cason or anything about the shooting.

The man Cason identified as the driver did not testify.

Sando also had not come to the meeting alone, Wright said. Another man drove him there and later told police he knew nothing about what happened after Sando got out of his car.

Witnesses reported seeing two masked men walking in the area around the time of the shooting. Police also found a ski mask near Sando’s body.

Wright argued that Sando and the man who drove him to the parking lot had planned to rob Cason.

Sando’s family was not present when the verdict was announced.