COLLEGE PARK -- Prince George's County police charged two young men with murder yesterday in the fatal stabbing of a University of Maryland sophomore last weekend at an off-campus party crashed by a group of nonstudents.

Charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of 20-year-old Brandon James Malstrom were John Ryan Schlamp, 24, of the 8500 block of Winter Pasture Way in Columbia's Long Reach village, and Quan Lewayne Davis, 23, of Hanover, police said.

Both were being held without bond last night.

Schlamp, who is not a student at the university, is being held without bond last night at the Prince George's County Detention Center.

Davis was awaiting a bail hearing before a District Court commissioner last night. Police did not say whether he was a student.

It is not the first time that Schlamp has been accused of attacking someone at a party. In 1998, Schlamp received one year's probation before judgment in an assault on the son of state Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, court records show.

The senator said yesterday that his son had held a party at the family home in west Columbia while he was out of town.

Malstrom, a sophomore from Phoenix in Baltimore County, died Sunday after being stabbed outside a homecoming party at a small house rented by students just blocks from the College Park campus.

Students who attended the party say Malstrom was attacked after a confrontation between other students and at least six nonstudents who were not invited and who had appeared drunk and belligerent.

Students and family members say Malstrom had not been directly involved in the confrontation but was attacked as he was leaving the party. He was found moments later lying on the ground.

Cpl. Joe Merkel, a police spokesman, said last night that the stabbing followed an altercation between Malstrom and his assailants involving a cellular phone.

The killing shook a university that has suffered repeated muggings and break-ins, on campus and off, in recent years. It prompted meetings yesterday between university and county officials over how to better police off-campus neighborhoods where many students live.

No one answered the door yesterday at the Long Reach home where neighbors said Schlamp lived with his parents and younger brother.

Henry L. McRobie, a lawyer who represented Schlamp in Baltimore Circuit Court in a misdemeanor assault case dismissed last month, said last night that he has been contacted by Schlamp's father, John Schlamp Sr., to represent Schlamp in the murder case.

McRobie said he could not discuss the case because he had not met with his client, but he called Schlamp "a very pleasant young man."

During his senior year at Howard High School, Schlamp played running back and defensive back for the Lions football team. His former coach, Vince Parnell, remembers him as an average but forceful player, despite his 5-foot-3-inch frame.

"He was kind of aggressive," said Parnell, who hasn't seen Schlamp since he graduated six years ago. "He wasn't a big kid, but he was tough. This comes as a shock, that's for sure."

Earlier cases

Kasemeyer, a Howard County Democrat, said the 1998 assault charge against Schlamp stemmed from a party that his son, Logan Ryan Kasemeyer, threw in 1997 while he and the boy's stepmother were in Seattle. His son told him later that people who weren't invited had shown up and that a fight had broken out, prompting a police visit, Kasemeyer said.

Schlamp was sentenced to one year's probation before judgment in Howard County District Court, records show.

Last year, Schlamp received three years' probation before judgment and a $295 fine from the same court after an arrest for driving under the influence in May 2001. Conditions of the probation, which runs to 2004, include abstaining from alcohol, writing a 1,500-word essay, and attending a victim impact panel.

A manager at the Lone Star Steakhouse on Stanford Boulevard in Columbia said that Schlamp had worked at the restaurant about two years ago. Neighbors did not know where Schlamp is working now.

Meeting on crime

As police were announcing the murder charge, university administrators were meeting yesterday with campus police and town and county officials to discuss ways to curb crime in off-campus neighborhoods dominated by students.

Of the university's roughly 25,000 undergraduates, nearly 15,000 live off campus, about half in neighborhoods adjoining the university. Student activity has increased in those areas during the past year, students and police say, because a crackdown on drinking at the university has pushed many parties off campus.

Those neighborhoods are under the jurisdiction of Prince George's County police, who residents say are often too busy to respond to their calls. University police can patrol the area, but do not receive residents' 911 calls and must defer to county police on major crimes.

A 'gap' in services

"We clearly have a gap. The county services are not extensive enough, and the university presence is not strong enough," said College Park Councilman Andrew Fellows, who is in favor of creating a city police force. "It's in the university's interest to come up with a solution."

In the past, university police and administrators have been reluctant to extend their reach into city neighborhoods. Yesterday, they said that more must be done to protect and police the burgeoning off-campus student population.

"It really is the city. ... But on the other hand, we have a very difficult situation with the crime rate now," said university President C.D. Mote Jr., who discussed the issue yesterday with the incoming county executive, Jack Johnson.

University police Chief Kenneth Krouse said he'd like his 75-officer department to be more active off campus, but that without added resources, it would "diminish police availability on campus."

Mote said the university is "prepared to spend more resources over there" but must work out guidelines with the county.

"A lot of it is who has responsibility -- when is it that university police are in the lead, when do they back up the county," he said. "The safety issues are real and serious ... and therefore we have to see how we use our assets more effectively."

Sun staff writers Larry Carson, Tricia Bishop, Stan Rappaport and Kristin Sette contributed to this article.