It was not the kind of crime that makes headlines: a shooting at a Royal Farms in Odenton on Nov. 13. The victims, a man and a woman, survived.

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Police think the shooting began as an argument and escalated, but the victims aren't cooperating.

One of the suspects, however, piqued detectives' interest.

The 24-year-old Annapolis man was charged with second-degree assault in connection with the shooting. Police don't know if he was the gunman, but he has a long criminal record, including a 2008 robbery conviction.

Michael Leonard Bias, 24.
(Photo: Anne Arundel County police)

The man's full name is Michael Leonard Bias, and, according to sources, detectives asked if, per chance, he was related to Len Bias, the famed University of Maryland basketball player who died shortly after the Boston Celtics drafted him as the second-overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.

Michael Leonard Bias claimed to be his son, born two weeks after the star's death.

When ABC7's Brad Bell heard the tale, he tracked down Bias' mother, Athena Maynard, at her Annapolis town home. She backed her son's story.

"I had a crush on Lenny ever since he played for Northwestern," Maynard told Brad Bell.

She says she was an 18-year-old high school student when she met him. Her girlfriend was accepted to Maryland and she tagged along to College Park with the goal of meeting the basketball star.

"Once she got accepted I was right there," Maynard recalled. "I met him and we started dating,"

Maynard admits she was just one of many girlfriends. As she explained, "He was Len Bias. It was OK with me."

She pulled out a scrapbook filled with photos of and clippings about the basketball legend.

Maynard was nine months pregnant when she got the stunning news that Bias had died from a cocaine overdose. She says she had spoken to him after his signing party in Boston. He asked about the unborn baby and promised to call when he returned to Maryland the next day, she recalled. She never heard from him again.

There is no independent evidence to support her claim that her son is Len Bias'.

No written history of Len Bias that we could find includes mention of a child. One former teammate and former Terrapin basketball coach Lefty Driesell told ABC7 News that they didn't think Len Bias had a son.

That surprised Maynard, who admits she has no proof other than her word.

"A lot of people knew: ballplayers knew, his mom knows, his dad knew, my friends knew -- a lot of people knew he had a child," she said.

Maynard says she spoke out because of her son's troubled past. Court records show numerous interactions with law enforcement, including a 2008 robbery conviction that ended with a suspended sentence and probation.

"I just want the recognition that there is a Michael Leonard Bias. That he did have a son," she said. "I know his life would have been completely different had Lenny not died."

Len Bias' mother did not respond to requests for comment on the story.