Students at Bowie State University and the University of Maryland paused Wednesday to remember a Bowie State student who was fatally stabbed just days before his graduation.
A moment of silence for 2nd Lt. Richard Collins III was held at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday at the Bowie State University torch. Students at the University of Maryland honored Collins on their campus at the same time.
Collins, 23, was stabbed as he waited at a bus shelter with friends at the University of Maryland in May. Sean Christopher Urbanski, 22, was charged with murder and assault for the attack that University of Maryland police Chief David Mitchell called "totally unprovoked."
The killing was investigated by local police and the FBI as a possible hate crime, but prosecutors were not able to bring hate crime charges against Urbanski, Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said.
Collins had just been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, and he was just days away from his graduation. His family accepted his degree at the commencement ceremony and a black gown was draped across a chair in the front row in Collins' honor.
"It is tragic to lose a service man in battle," U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham said. "It is even more tragic to lose them to senseless acts of violence."
