Fatal Stabbing of Black Student in Maryland Investigated as a Hate Crime - New York Times

A white student at the University of Maryland was charged on Sunday in the fatal stabbing a black college student in what the authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime.

Officials on Sunday charged the suspect, Sean C. Urbanski, 22, with assault and first- and second-degree murder in the death of the student, Richard W. Collins III, 23, the authorities said. He was being held without bond, according to a statement from Wallace D. Loh, the president of the University of Maryland.

Mr. Collins was a student at Bowie State University, in Bowie, Md., about 30 miles south of Baltimore. He was recently commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army and was to graduate on Tuesday, the statement said.

David Mitchell, chief of the University of Maryland Police Department, told The Baltimore Sun that Mr. Urbanski, of Severna Park, Md., was a member of the Facebook group “Alt-Reich Nation,” a page that contained racist posts.

“When I look at the information that’s contained on that website, suffice it to say that it’s despicable,” he told The Sun. “It shows extreme bias against women, Latinos, persons of Jewish faith and especially African-Americans.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was evaluating the stabbing as a potential hate crime, Gordon Johnson, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I. field office in Baltimore, said at a news conference on Sunday.

Officials said Mr. Collins was with two friends near a bus stop on campus around 3 a.m. on Saturday when they heard Mr. Urbanski screaming and saw him approach.

Mr. Urbanski said, “Step left, step left if you know what’s best for you,” according to court documents, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Collins said “no” before Mr. Urbanski stabbed him once in the chest, the documents said.

When officers from the university police department arrived, they found Mr. Collins on the sidewalk with serious injuries. He was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, the police said in a statement. Prince George’s County Police stopped a person in the area who was identified by witnesses as Mr. Urbanski, the police said.

In his statement, Mr. Loh called the act a “horrific assault” that “has shocked, saddened, and angered our community and beyond.”

“We must all do more to nurture a climate — on campus and beyond — where we stand against hate, we fight against hate crimes, and we reaffirm the values that define us a university and as a democracy,” Mr. Loh said.

Chief Mitchell said the attack had spread fear across the university.

“If I’m a person of color, I would certainly look at this as something that could happen to me,” he said, according to The A.P.

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