Sean Christopher Urbanski, age 22, remains jailed. He is accused of fatally stabbing Richard Wilbur Collins III, age 23, near a bus stop on the Campus Park at the University of Maryland around 3 a.m. on Saturday. Urbanski made his first appearance in the case at a bond hearing on Monday afternoon.
Patrice E. Lewis, District Court Judge, Upper Marlboro, ordered the accused to remain in jail. He is held at Prince George’s detention center. He stands charged with first- and second-degree murder.
Urbanski allegedly approached Collins and was yelling at the 23-year-old to step left if he knew what was best for him.
When he was told “no,” Urbanski continued approaching, then, stabbed Collins in the chest one time with a folding knife. Not only were there witnesses to the attack, surveillance cameras also captured it.
After 911 was called and officers responded, they discovered Collins on the sidewalk and seriously wounded. He was taken to the hospital – where he soon died.
Bail denied at pre-trial hearing
Judge Lewis, during the short bail hearing, said the evidence was clear and convincing that accused is an “absolute danger” to the community. She also noted the random nature of the attack – since anyone in the universe, who uses that same bus stop, could have been attacked.
Assistant state attorney, Prince George County, Joseph Ruddy, said there was absolutely no contact prior to the attack between the victim and the suspect, who is a student at the University of Maryland and from Severna Park, MD.
Defense attorney requests release
William C. Brennan, Jr., Urbanski’s defense lawyer, was denied a request that the judge set bail, release his client, put him house arrest, monitor him through GPS, and order him to treatment for substance abuse. Brennan asserted that his client was intoxicated when Collins was attacked. Brennan also told the judge that his client has no criminal record.
He was confident that his proposal for release would assure Urbanski would appear for court.
Urbanski’s parents were at the hearing and did not speak on their son’s behalf. They left the courtroom with Brennan. They declined to comment about their son’s alleged online activities and membership in the Facebook group Alt Reich Nation.
Investigating possibility of hate crime
While authorities investigate whether the killing of Collins was a hate crime, State Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George County, said it will likely require more than the accused’s alleged membership in the racist Facebook Group to charge Urbanski, who is white, with a hate crime.
Whether the accused will be charged with a hate crime is pending the outcome of the investigation involving campus and Prince George County authorities, along with the FBI. She said that they are not even “close to concluding” that the murder of Collins, who was black, was a hate crime.
Collins, of Owings, MD, would have graduated today with a business degree. He was a member of Bowie State University’s ROTC chapter and, on May 18, was commissioned to join the Army. Alsobrooks said that Collins represented the “very best of this community.”
