Prince George's Police Reveal Details About Murder Of Marckel Ross

Prince George's County police are giving more detail into the investigation that led to an arrest in the murder of Central High school student Marckel Ross.

When the 18-year old honor student from Capitol Heights was found dead from a single gunshot wound back on Sept. 11, investigators didn't have a reason for what appeared to be a senseless shooting. Monday's arrest of 20-year-old Travon Bennett in connection with killing revealed a clear motive.

"We are still investigating what actually happened. We do not have any property that was taken from Marckel Ross that we know of. We believe there was a confrontation on the sidewalk between Travon Bennett and Marckel Ross," said Major Michael Straughan, of the county's criminal investigation division. "At the time that Marckel was murdered, Travon Bennett acted alone, was alone, and we believe the motive was an attempted robbery."

Bennett has been charged with murder one, along with assault, armed robbery and felony use of a firearm in the killing of Ross. Investigators say Bennett has been in police custody since November of 2012 for an unrelated armed robbery and is believed to have been involved in a string of armed heists from May of last year.

Major Straughan said a weapon used in the November robbery led to Bennett's arrest.

"The gun was recovered from a search we did on Oct. 31," Straughan said. "At the time we did not know whether it was going to be linked to Marckel Ross or not, but ballistically through our firearms examination unit, we can confirm that it was the murder weapon used to kill Marckel Ross."

Bennett is being held in a state corrections facility pending a hearing.