Student, 19, Slain Near Md. Metro Stop

Family Mourns 'Athletic Achiever'

Maurice Powell, 19, was leaving a Metro stop when he was killed. (Hamil Harris - Twp)

A college student was fatally shot early yesterday as he and two friends were being chased by four men during a possible robbery attempt near a Metro station in Prince George's County, police said.

Maurice Powell, 19, of Capitol Heights, a well-liked 2006 graduate of Central High School, was shot once in his upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, said Cpl. Clinton Copeland, a spokesman for Prince George's police.

Powell and two friends were leaving the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Station when they were approached by four men about 1:30 a.m., Copeland said. Powell and his friends feared trouble and began running. Multiple shots were fired at the three men as they fled near Daimler Drive, where Powell lived.

Police have no suspects but are trying to piece together descriptions from Powell's friends, whose names were not released because they are witnesses.

Friends and relatives remembered Powell as a hardworking young man who went out of his way to avoid crime in what is considered a dicey neighborhood.

"This was a tragedy," said the Rev. D.A. Glasby, Powell's uncle. "This was not warranted. This is a trying time for a mother and a father. My nephew deliberately tried to stay out of trouble."

Glasby said the family was "shocked and distraught" as a result of Powell's death.

"When you think about these kinds of things, you think about drugs or whether it was related to gangs," he said. "He didn't have that kind of background. He was an athletic achiever."

Powell -- known by friends as Mo -- had been a linebacker on Central's football team and a solid sprinter on the track team. He enrolled at TESST College of Technology after transferring from Northern Virginia Community College.

"We always admired him because he was working and going to college," said Christine Kibler, 51, the victim's next-door neighbor. "He was just a very nice, respectful kid."

Central High Athletics Director Ed Bowie, who coached Powell in track, said athletes at the school called him yesterday to talk about the shooting death of the popular graduate.

"What was nice about Mo is that he always had a smile on his face," he said. "He was just as gentle as he could be. He listened intently and followed directions."