Joseph Cameron's killer met him hours before death, judge finds

A teenager convicted of murderingJoseph Douglas Cameron only met the 20-year-old hours before gunning him down on a Dartmouth sidewalk.

That was the determination of Judge Anne Derrick in her written decision, which was released on Friday.

The document outlines testimony that described the hours leading up to the 2016 death of Cameron, who wasone of several young black men killed by gun violence in the Halifax area that spring.

An 18-year-old man was convicted offirst-degree murder earlier this monthin Halifax provincial youth court.

Derrick's decision also sheds light on the casual nature of the killing by the teenager, whose name is protected by a publication ban because he was 17 at the time.

The Jack Boys

Police responded to a report of shots fired near Spring Avenue and Mount Edward Road shortly before dawn on March 29, 2016. Theydiscovered Cameronlying dead on the sidewalk in a pool of blood.

According to evidence presented at trial, he had been driving around in a stolen car with the accused and a few other teens that night.

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Some of them were members of a group dubbed the Jack Boys, which robbed people for money, often targetingdrug dealers, the decision said.

Theyhad been attempting robberies that night but were unsuccessful.

Disagreement over leg room

At around 3 a.m., the 15-year-old driver of the car called the accused andpicked him up.

The older teenager took a disliking to Cameron after a disagreement that was purportedly over leg room in the back seat of the Kia Rondo.

It was the first time the two had met, the court heard.

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Cameron decided to leave the group and walk home but he "did not get far," Derrick wrote, as the accused had decided he wanted to kill him.

The 15 year old then drove the accused to intercept Cameron on his walk, andwatched as the 17 year old approachedCameron and shot him twice with a sawed-off rifle at close range, the judge concluded.

Crown seeking adult sentence

Three days later, on April Fool's Day, the teen who had been driving the car fired a newly acquired 12-gauge shotgun into the ground from his front step to see if the gun worked. He then went back inside and went to sleep.

The gunshotdrew police to the area, who searched his home and found the shotgun along with the same type of sawed-off rifle used to kill Cameron.

Police arrested the accusedin London, Ont., four months laterand he was returned to Nova Scotia to face trial.

Driver guilty of 2nd degree murder

The Crown isseeking to have the offendersentenced as an adult.If that happens, hisidentitywould also no longer be protected by a publication ban.

Thedriver of the carpleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year, and testified that it was the older teenager who "pulled the trigger," Derrick wrote.

She has recused herself from the sentencing hearingafter being appointed to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

The case is expected to return to court next month to set a sentencing date.