The killing of a Muslim teenager in Virginia whose body was found in a pond on Sunday was most likely a “road rage incident” and not a hate crime, the Fairfax County Police Department said on Monday night.

The teenager, Nabra Hassanen, 17, was killed on Sunday after she and a group of friends encountered a driver, Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, about 3:40 a.m., the police said in a statement. The group had been at a late-night event at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va., and were headed back to the mosque after a trip to a fast-food restaurant.

The police said the group of as many as 15 teenagers were walking and riding their bikes — some in the street and some on the sidewalk — when Mr. Torres came upon them in his car.

An argument erupted between him and one of the teenagers, a boy on a bicycle, and he drove his car onto the curb in a fit of anger, the police said. The statement did not say what the argument was about. The teenagers ran from Mr. Torres, but he soon found them in a parking lot and got out of his car wielding a baseball bat and began to chase them, the police said.