MANSFIELD - The town was shocked earlier this year when a local high school graduate was fatally shot, allegedly by another local teenager, over three-quarters of a pound of marijuana in a drug deal gone awry.

Andrew Colwell, 18, who would have been a college freshman at the University of New Hampshire this past fall in a life that once seemed so full of promise, was shot in the head July 7, police said.

It was the town's first murder in 17 years.

His accused killer, Mark Hayden, 19, a local high school dropout, is now in a jail cell awaiting trial for murder. He is being held without bail.

Hayden allegedly shot Colwell, of 83 Tanya Drive, once in the head as they sat in Colwell's Jeep in the parking lot of the Edgewood Condominiums on Erick Road. Prior to the murder, Colwell and a friend, Daniel Pungitore, had picked up Hayden in a prearranged meeting to sell him the marijuana. Instead, Hayden, seated in the back of the Jeep, produced a handgun and yelled, "Give me everything you got," authorities allege.

After shooting Colwell, authorities say Hayden turned the gun on Pungitore, before fleeing with the marijuana. Pungitore yelled to a woman who apparently heard the commotion and told her to call 911. He told police he fled in a panic, fearing for his life, according to court records.

Colwell was brought to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he was pronounced dead.

Police Chief Arthur O'Neill said at the time "the lure of easy money" somehow brought the youths together, and the result was tragic.

"Whatever got them to this point is a tragedy and this town is poorer for it," O'Neill said at a press conference.

Hayden, who lived in an apartment at the Village at Mansfield Depot, was arrested two days later at South Station in Boston, where police say he was about to take a bus to Kentucky where he has relatives.

During a videotaped statement at the police station, police say Hayden waived his right to have an attorney present during questioning, and admitted to shooting Colwell.

But his lawyer, Francis O'Boy of Taunton, said recently that he will file a motion seeking to have any statements Hayden made during the ride back to Mansfield and at the police station thrown out.

"His will was overborne by the questioning. The statements were not voluntary beyond a reasonable doubt and should be suppressed," O'Boy said.

The case was continued to Jan. 29.