The University of Maryland held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, unveiling plans to honor and commemorate an Army officer slain on its College Park campus five years ago.

The university said it would build a plaza near a campus bus stop where First Lt. Richard Collins III died.

“We must never forget what happened here on our campus,” university president Darryll J. Pines told the crowd at the ceremony. “We will continue to honor the life of Lt. Richard Collins as we pursue an anti-racism and inclusive culture.”

The plaza will feature two walls, one with an engraved plaque honoring Collins, a fountain, and another wall displaying a unity mural created by UMD and Bowie State students. Construction of the memorial will be completed in May.

In 2017, Collins was waiting at the bus stop near Montgomery and Annapolis halls. He was visiting friends on campus.

Shortly after arriving at the stop, Collins was stabbed to death with a three-inch pocket knife by Sean Urbanski, a white college student from Maryland.

Collins was days away from graduating from Bowie State University. He had also been commissioned into the US Army as a Second Lieutenant in the ROTC program.

Urbanski has been charged with first degree murder and a hate crime. He was convicted of first degree murder, but the judge dropped the hate crime charge.

Collins was posthumously promoted to First Lieutenant in the Army.

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