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Fourteen-year-old Tai Lam was not in his bed Monday morning. Instead, his twin mattress was the staging area for the high school freshman's favorite clothes. A calligraphy painting of his name in Vietnamese sat at the head of his bed, while his mother stood at the foot of it, weeping.

"Why they took my baby away from me?" asked the grief-stricken Vietnamese immigrant. "For 14 years, I care for him by myself."

Lam's family and friends gathered at his home, a Quebec Terrace apartment, Monday to mourn his death at a shrine of photos, notes and some of his favorite foods. The Montgomery Blair High School student was shot to death Saturday night on a Ride On bus in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring, according to county police. Two of his friends were seriously injured. Police are investigating and working to identify a suspect.

Lam's brother was with him on the bus and recounted what he saw.

Lam Cao, 16, said he and his brother and a group of friends were riding the bus in Silver Spring a little after 11 p.m. Saturday when three Hispanic men boarded at a stop near Sligo Avenue. The men rode grouped together by the back door. Cao said the men seemed to be taunting the other passengers. Another man boarded the bus at the next stop and joined the men, who were speaking Spanish, in the taunting.

Cao was seated at the front of the bus chatting with friends while his brother sat in the back. One of his friends translated for him what the men were saying. The friend eventually attracted the men's attention, and they approached her.

But before they said anything, the bus stopped at Piney Branch Road and Arliss Street, and three of the men stepped off at the back door.

One of the men remained on the bus, and had to be coerced by his companions to get off. When he finally did, instead of leaving, he and his companions held the door open. One of the men reached for his hip as if he were grabbing a gun and the passengers in the back of the bus huddled together.

Cao said the man relaxed his arm without pulling a firearm.

But moments later he heard five to six shots and his brother scream, "I'm shot!" The bus driver lurched the bus forward about 20 to 30 feet as Lam Cao rushed to the back.

"He was just pouring blood," he said. "I couldn't believe it."

People stepped off the bus and began calling police, who Cao said arrived about five minutes later. He rode in the ambulance with his brother to the hospital, holding him all the way. Lam was pronounced dead upon arrival, according to Montgomery County Police.

County police gave the following account of the incident. At about 11 p.m. Saturday two groups of passengers on the bus were involved in a verbal argument. One group of three to five exited the bus at Piney Branch Road and Arliss Street. After exiting, a member of the group turned and fired a handgun into the bus, striking the three teens. The teens were taken to area trauma centers.

Tai Lam died from his wounds and his friends, who are 14 and 15 years old, were transported in serious condition.

There were other passengers on the bus and others were standing at the bus stop, said Lt. Paul Starks, a police spokesman. Police do not know if the teens were involved in the verbal altercation.

The gunman was described as a Hispanic man in his early 20s, about 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall with no facial hair. He wore a black hooded jacket and blue jeans. He also had a tattoo of some type of lettering on the side of his neck.

Tai Lam followed in his brother's footsteps at Montgomery Blair by joining the wrestling team and paved his own path by joining the fashion club, friends and family said.

He enjoyed modeling and designing clothes with the club, where he was known for his style, said Edith Verdejo, a ninth-grade administrator.

"He was very stylish, to say the least," she said.

He was also very popular for a ninth-grader, said Principal Darryl Williams outside the Lam residence Monday afternoon after visiting Cao and his mother.

School was out Monday and Tuesday for professional work days, but Williams said on Wednesday there will be grief counselors and staff members from Eastern Middle School, where Lam had attended.

Detectives are asking anyone with information to call 240-773-5070. Callers may remain anonymous.