Casper man gets 12 to 18 years for fatal drug deal shooting

CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper native was sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison on the charge of manslaughter for the shooting death of another man during a drug deal in west Casper last year.

Rajion Lee Vu, 26, was sentenced by Natrona County District Court Judge Kerri Johnson on Tuesday afternoon. The nearly four-hour hearing included sworn testimony from Vu’s girlfriend Angelina Smith, Casper Police Department detective Chris Miller, and a “human factors expert” hired by the defense who said that Vu was being robbed at the time and that the victim may have been armed, though a gun was not recovered. 

Brandon Arguello Lopez was 30 years old when he was shot in the back by Vu on the night of Feb 1., 2024.  First responders found him lying in the gutter in west Casper with a bullet that went through the upper part of his spinal column and lodged in his brain. He was lying on top of a white box containing several individually wrapped packages of marijuana.

Smith testified that she and Vu, her boyfriend of 10 years, had been dining with his family in Bar Nunn on that night and that Vu had arranged to sell marijuana to Lopez. Lopez had sent a pin location to Vu near the intersection of West 15th and Cottonwood streets, just around the block from where Lopez was waiting at his girlfriend’s family’s home.. 

Smith said she drove Vu to the location and parked. She said the streets were dark and she saw two figures hiding in the bushes, but Vu did not see them. She said two people then approached the vehicle, one on each side. Vu said only one person could get in, and Lopez got in the back. 

Smith said Lopez appeared agitated. Toxicology results for Lopez were positive for amphetamines, according to court records. She said Lopez made them uncomfortable by talking about how he had just spent 10 years in prison, was wanted by law enforcement, and planned to leave town. 

She said Lopez started struggling to get something out his pants pocket, and that he claimed it was a new wallet. She said Lopez became more agitated, alarming her and Vu.

“He said he had a f—ing gun and he was going to f—ing shoot us,” Smith said. She said Lopez and Vu both got out of the car, and a few moments later she heard three shots.

Smith said neither she or Vu saw Lopez with a gun, but they believed he might have. 

Detective Miller said it appeared that Lopez may have been hunched over when he was shot in the back. He also said it appeared he intended to rob Vu of the marijuana.

“Mr Lopez was shot in the back as he was running away over a few hundred dollars’ worth of marijuana,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Blain Nelson said in his sentencing argument. “[Vu] just got ripped off. He’s angry. He shoots not once, not twice, but three times.”

Defense attorney Keith Nachbar said Vu had been reacting to the “real and imminent threat” presented by Lopez’s alleged behavior. He said investigators didn’t consider that Lopez may have had a “duck-and-cover” reaction during the confrontation with Vu outside of the vehicle, explaining why he was shot in the back.

Lopez’s girlfriend and other witnesses at the home nearby said that Lopez had asked to borrow a gun before leaving to meet with Vu, but they refused to give it to him. Nachbar suggested that  they may have lied, and that they — or the man who accompanied Lopez to the deal — had retrieved it before calling police. 

After the shooting, Vu and Smith threw the gun and remaining marijuana away in an alley dumpster, switched out vehicles at his home in Evansville, and left town for about a day. They were arrested on Feb. 5, four days after the shooting. 

Police had identified Vu through texts on Lopez’s phone setting up the deal and residential security footage that showed his white Subaru Impreza speeding away from the crime scene. While executing a search warrant at Vu’s home in Evansville, police found marijuana, packaging materials matching the packaged drugs found with Lopez, and Lopez’s Snapchat name written on a sticky note.

Smith showed police the dumpster where Vu had dropped the gun but the trash had already been collected. Miller said police sifted through “several tons” of garbage at the landfill with no success.

During a search of a family member’s house in Bar Nunn, police found a safe with $493,303 in shrink-wrapped cash, which Nelson described as the fruits of Vu’s marijuana-dealing empire.

The state has filed to claim the money, saying it was accumulated and used in the furtherance of marijuana-dealing operation, and therefore subject to forfeiture.

Vu had no adult criminal history, and family members described him as quiet and peaceful. He was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was amended to manslaughter as part of the plea agreement. Vu also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver marijuana.

The charge of manslaughter carries possible penalties ranging from probation to 20 years in prison. 

“This is not a 20-year case,” Nachbar said in his sentencing argument. He recommended 11 to 15 years on the charge.

“Mr. Lopez had value to his family and society, and it’s a very unfortunate end to his life,” Nachbar said.

Nelson, saying that Vu made no attempts to report the shooting or render aid to Vu, deserved the maximum sentence.

“I feared for our lives,” Vu told Judge Johnson. “I know what Lopez meant to his family. I think about it every day and I am sorry for it.”

“This is a no win-situation for everyone in this courtroom,” Johnson said. “What exactly happened that night may be up for debate, but at the end of the day you were involved in illegal activity and should known that someday, someone might threaten you. It’s why we as a society can’t tolerate that.”

Vu will serve seven to 10 years on the drug conspiracy charge while serving his sentence on manslaughter. He will get credit for 414 days served.

This story will be updated.