A Baltimore teenager who had just come from mourning a friend’s death became the victim of another senseless act of violence — one that prosecutors say was sparked by an argument over parked cars.
Nineteen-year-old Cameran Holt was sitting on her car in a Fells Point parking lot with friends on October 27, 2024, hours after attending a candlelight vigil. The group was gathered on West Hamburg Street when gunfire erupted. Holt was shot and rushed to the hospital, where she died two weeks later.
On Tuesday, a jury found Alexis Cancel-Soto, now 20, guilty of first-degree murder for firing the shots that killed Holt. He was one of three men charged in connection with the late-night shootout. Two others — 27-year-old Tyreke Clark and 29-year-old Devontaye Richardson — are still awaiting trial.
Prosecutors are arguing that Cancel-Soto, armed with a 9 mm handgun, opened fire recklessly during the confrontation. The chaos began, according to testimony, when a purple Dodge Challenger pulled into the lot around 2 a.m. and the driver got into an argument with Cancel-Soto’s group. The driver, who has not been arrested, allegedly used an AR-15 to spray bullets. Cancel-Soto fired back.
In court, Cancel-Soto insisted that he never aimed at Holt or her car. He told jurors he thought his life was in danger. “I kinda-sorta felt like something bad was going to happen. Like a shootout, or somebody was going to die,” he testified. His lawyers leaned on self-defense, saying the teen was caught in a moment of panic.
But prosecutors pointed out the contradictions. Cancel-Soto had initially told police he never got rid of his gun — then, in the same interview, admitted, “We sold the gun.” They argued that if he had truly feared for his life, he could have fled or called for help instead of firing into the crowd.
The defense reminded jurors that almost everyone in the parking lot that night appeared to be carrying a weapon, and that Cancel-Soto and Holt were friends. “There is no evidence he fired the shot that hit and killed Ms. Holt,” his lawyer said. “They were friends. He’d never shoot at her car on purpose.”
Still, after ten hours of deliberation, jurors sided with the prosecution. Cancel-Soto now faces the prospect of decades behind bars, even as his co-defendants await their day in court.
For Holt’s family, the verdict provides some measure of accountability but no real closure. She was only 19, sitting with friends after mourning another young life lost. The cycle of violence that claimed her began with an argument that spiraled into a firefight — one that prosecutors say never needed to happen.
