Left inset: Alexis Cancel-Soto (Baltimore Police). Right inset: Cameran Holt (Stallings Funeral Home). Background: The area in Baltimore, Md., where Alexis Cancel-Soto shot and killed Cameran Holt in October 2024 (WBAL/YouTube).
A Baltimore teen, who was sitting on her car in a parking lot with friends after attending a candlelight vigil for a deceased friend, was killed by a 19-year-old man after becoming caught in the crossfire of a “shootout,” according to reports.
Alexis Cancel-Soto, now 20, was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday for the killing of 19-year-old Cameran Holt on Oct. 27, 2024, during a late-night shooting in a parking lot on W. Hamburg Street in Fells Point, as reported by local NBC affiliate WBAL. Holt died two weeks later while in the hospital.
Cancel-Soto is one of three defendants charged in Holt’s death, with the other suspects currently awaiting trial. Tyreke Clark, 27, and Devontaye Richardson, 29, are also accused of opening fire that night after the confrontation began around 2 a.m., according to police.
Holt was reportedly with friends after the vigil for a person named “Chop” when the driver of a purple Dodge Challenger drove up and began arguing with Cancel-Soto and others about parked cars, local CBS affiliate WJZ reports. The driver, who was never arrested, allegedly fired an AR-15.
“I kinda-sorta felt like something bad was going to happen,” Cancel-Soto told jurors during the trial, as reported by the Baltimore Witness. “Like a shootout, or somebody was going to die,” he said.
Cancel-Soto and his lawyers argued self-defense during his trial and said he was under the impression that his life was in danger, so that’s why he opened fire. “I never shot toward Cameran Holt’s car,” Cancel-Soto said. “This would not have happened if it wasn’t for the driver of the Challenger.”
Prosecutors reportedly pointed to inconsistencies in Cancel-Soto’s statements to police and noted how he was caught during his interview saying, “We sold the gun,” after he insisted he never got rid of the firearm. They said if Cancel-Soto was truly in fear for his life, he would have run away and called for help.
Asked about the 9 mm handgun he used to kill Holt and whether he feels bad about bringing a weapon to the parking lot, Cancel-Soto said: “Almost everyone there had one.”
Cancel-Soto’s lawyers claimed, repeatedly, that he acted in self-defense before pulling the trigger. It took jurors around 10 hours to convict him.
“There is no evidence he fired the shot that hit and killed Ms. Holt,” Cancel-Soto’s lawyer argued. “They were friends. He’d never shoot at her car on purpose. No gun was ever recovered from him, and if you look at the video, you’ll see he’s scared and anxious. He even goes to the bathroom. He didn’t intend to kill anybody that night. He didn’t intend to fire his weapon that night.”
