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Cameron Isaac and a co-defendant are accused of robbing and murdering Xiaopeng "Pippen" Yuan, a Syracuse University student from China, behind a DeWitt apartment complex in September.

(Onondaga County Sheriff's Office)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man accused of shooting a Syracuse University student to death in September was previously charged with having a loaded gun.

Cameron Isaac, 23, of 460 S. Main St., North Syracuse, was one of the two men arrested Thursday and charged with murdering Xiaopeng Yuan behind a DeWitt apartment complex. The fatal shooting happened during a robbery, said Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway.

It was not the first time Isaac has been charged with illegally having a gun.

Isaac was arrested in December 2015 by the Syracuse Police Department after his fingerprints were found on a loaded Kel-Tec 9mm luger. He was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and released.

Less than a year later, deputies accused Isaac and Ninimbe Mitchell with using a gun to rob and kill Yuan.

Isaac and Mitchell met Yuan at the Springfield Garden Apartments on Sept. 30 for a drug deal, Conway said Friday during a news conference. The men robbed Yuan before fatally shooting him behind 16 Caton Drive, he said.

Residents living in the apartment complex called 911 after hearing gunshots.

Deputies found Yuan's body behind 16 Caton Drive. The student's Chevrolet Camaro was towed from the scene.

The sheriff's office declined to specify what drug was involved or what detectives believe the two men stole from Yuan. Without specifying who was selling the drugs, Conway said drugs were found in Yuan's car.

None of the men had a connection to the apartment complex, he said.

Isaac and Mitchell, 20, of 916 Willis Ave., Syracuse, were arrested Thursday when deputies executed search warrants at their homes.

The men were charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies. The co-defendants are in the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.