The Department of Defense is granting a posthumous promotion to Richard Collins III, a ROTC student at Bowie State University who was murdered in 2017, days after being commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Collins, who was black, was stabbed to death while visiting friends at the campus of the nearby University of Maryland.

Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy notified four Maryland lawmakers of the decision to grant Collins an honorary promotion to first lieutenant, on Wednesday.

"The Army considered the standards and criteria required for an honorary promotion and found that 2LT Collins displayed exemplary conduct in the performance of his duties commensurate with a first lieutenant," McCarthy said in a statement.

In a joint statement Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Anthony Brown and Steny Hoyer, all Democrats, said the honorary promotion was "the rightful recognition" of Collins' contributions as a ROTC student.