A Prince George’s County grand jury indicted a University of Maryland student on murder charges Thursday in the fatal stabbing of a Bowie State University student on this campus in late May.
Sean Urbanski, a white 22-year-old student at this university, was charged with first- and second-degree murder, as well as first-degree assault, in the stabbing of 23-year-old Richard Collins, who was a black student at Bowie State University.
[Read more: UMD student charged in connection with stabbing near Montgomery Hall]
Police are continuing to investigate a possible motive with the support of the FBI, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said during a press conference Thursday, adding that there is “quite a bit of evidence to go through,” including digital devices.
University Police are working with the FBI to determine whether the incident was a hate crime.
“Developing a motive is always a challenging aspect of a case,” Alsobrooks said.
Joseph Ruddy, Prince George’s County assistant state’s attorney, said the grand jury was given information from video evidence from the scene of the crime.
Collins, a recently commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S Army who was set to graduate a few days later, was waiting with friends near the Montgomery Hall bus stop when Urbanski approached him at about 3 a.m. on May 20. The attack was captured on nearby security cameras.
Urbanski said to Collins, “Step left, step left if you know what’s good for you,” University Police Chief David Mitchell said at a news conference. Collins “looked puzzled” and said no before Urbanski stabbed him in the chest, causing Collins to fall backward, police said.
Collins was was taken to Prince George’s Hospital’s Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead later that day.
[Read more: UMD President Loh announces plans to consider harsher punishments for hate bias incidents]
Urbanski was later found to be a member of a Facebook group called “Alt-Reich: Nation,” which had numerous racist posts, but has since been deleted.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.