If the headlines are to be believed, Justin DeSha-Overcash was notable for only one thing: he was a drug dealer, and he had it coming.

But to those who knew him, DeSha-Overcash was a sharp kid and a genuinely caring guy who treated everyone he encountered with courtesy and respect.

On Wednesday afternoon, Dist. 1 Commander Maj. Robert Liberati confirmed that DeSha-Overcash was the victim of Tuesday's shooting on 38th Avenue, in what police said was likely an attempted robbery gone awry. DeSha-Overcash was 22-years-old and a full-time student at the University of Maryland.

David Snyder, who lived with DeSha-Overcash two years ago in the house where the homicide took place, said DeSha-Overcash was soft-spoken but personable.

Snyder is also an occasional contributor to Patch.com.

“He had that Southern hospitality thing going on,” he said of DeSha-Overcash, a native of North Carolina. “He never raised his voice; he didn’t have to.”

His packed schedule also meant that DeSha-Overcash was rarely home. A double-major in physics and astronomy, DeSha-Overcash worked two jobs to pay his way through school. By day, he tutored athletes at the Comcast Center, and in the evenings he worked at the UMd. Observatory.

Elizabether Warner, the coordinator at the UMd. Observatory, worked with DeSha-Overcash for the past few years. She said that he was a great kid who never left home without his Tarheels hat. One of the first things people noticed about him was his Southern drawl.

The wall of DeSha-Overcash's Facebook page is filled with tributes and goodbyes from his friends.

"I'm in shock that someone as nice and bright as you has been taken from us," wrote one person. Another posted a video for Michael Jackson's "Gone Too Soon."

Though police say the suspect targeted DeSha-Overcash’s house because he knew there were drugs there, Snyder said that the portrayal of DeSha-Overcash as a drug kingpin is unfair.

“You’re going to find that most college students smoke a little here and there. This could have happened to anybody,” he said. “Somebody just wanted to take advantage of a really nice person.”

This story was updated to note that one of the people we interviewed is a freelancer who occasionally writes for neighboring Patches (though not directly for College Park Patch).