Man charged in Seat Pleasant homicide

Police have arrested and charged a 24-year-old man in a fatal shooting that occurred at a Seat Pleasant gas station this weekend.

Mahdi Lawson, of Upper Marlboro, was charged with second-degree murder in Friday's killing of Sharod James.

Court documents filed in the case indicate that Mr. Lawson called Mr. James to a Valero gas station, located at 5601 Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, for a drug deal. Mr. James arrived at the gas station shortly before midnight and the two talked inside the building, then walked outside to the parking lot. As the men talked in the parking lot,

Mr. James was shot multiple times. He died within the hour.

A Prince George's County homicide detective states in the court documents that the two men were seen together on surveillance footage from the gas station and that Mr. Lawson's cell phone records also place him at the scene.

Police searched Mr. Lawson's home, in the 13000 block of Bishops Bequest Road, and recovered clothing that matched what he was wearing in the surveillance video. After he was arrested Sunday, court records state that he admitted to calling Mr. James "for a narcotic transaction and meeting him at the gas station during the time of the shooting." The documents do not indicate whether or not he admitted to the shooting.

A phone number could not be found for Mr. Lawson's home and no attorney was listed as representing him in online court records.

Mr. Lawson was denied bond at a bail review Monday in Prince George's County District Court, Maryland court records show. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on December 14.

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