(CNN) — Twelve students at Salisbury University in Maryland are facing assault and hate crime charges after they allegedly targeted a man “due to his sexual preferences” and lured him to an off-campus apartment where they beat him, police said.
The students, all men ranging in age from 18 to 21, were charged with first degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and associated hate crimes in connection with the October 15 incident, the Salisbury Police Department said in a news release Thursday.
Police say a man was invited “under false pretenses” to an apartment in Salisbury, where a group of men immediately surrounded him upon entry, forced him into a chair in the living room and then proceeded to kick, punch and spit on him while calling him derogatory names, police said.
One of the men met the victim on the LGBTQ dating app Grindr, pretended to be 16 years old and set a date to meet up “for the purposes of having sexual intercourse,” according to a charging documents obtained by CNN affiliate WJZ. The legal age of consent in Maryland is 16 years old.
According to the charging document, police reviewed videos of the incident – recorded without the victim’s consent – from one of the defendants’ phones.
Police allege that when the victim entered the apartment and shut the door, one of the students yelled “YEE YEE” and approximately 15 college-aged men appeared from the bedrooms and assaulted him while using a homophobic slur, among other derogatory terms, to refer to him.
The victim told police that he tried to leave the apartment several times but was “grabbed by multiple people and thrown to the ground,” according to the charging document. The victim was eventually allowed to leave and discovered he had suffered a broken rib and multiple bruises across his body as a result of the attack, police said.
The alleged beating, which lasted about five to six minutes, came to light after two witnesses reported to university police on October 29 that one of the defendants showed them a video of the assault, according to the document. University police then contacted the Salisbury Police Department.
Cell phone videos retrieved from a defendant’s phone led police to the victim and eventually to additional suspects, according to the document.
“An investigation revealed that the victim was targeted due to his sexual preferences,” Salisbury Police said.
Attorney James L. Britt, who is representing one of the suspects, told the Baltimore Banner the incident was not related to the victim’s sexual orientation.
“Once all of the facts see the light of day, this case will be shown to be an ill-advised attempt to expose someone willing to travel to have sexual relations with a 16-year-old child,” Britt told Baltimore Banner.
“Let me just set the record straight – this is not a hate crime,” Steve Rakow, an attorney for another one of men charged in the incident, said in a statement Friday. There are facts and details about the incident that the public has yet to see, he added.
A preliminary hearing for at least one defendant is scheduled for December 6, Rakow said, noting his client intends to plead not guilty.
CNN has reached out to Salisbury police for comment as well as attorneys for some of the defendants.
Students face interim suspension
Salisbury University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre described the allege assault as “truly horrifying” in a statement to the student body.
“Acts of violence toward LGBTQ+ and Ally communities are not only destructive but at odds with the principles of community, respect, and belonging that bind us together as a university,” Lepre said.
“These actions do not reflect the SU that I know and love. A place where everyone should feel safe and free from harm. A place where violence is unacceptable.”
The arrested students have been placed on suspension, the university said.
“This includes being restricted from campus and being unable to participate in academic coursework either in person or virtually,” a statement from the university said.
At least some of the students are members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which has been placed on suspension, the university said.
Grindr told CNN in a statement that it’s “ready to cooperate with law enforcement requests to support their investigation.”
“Grindr has always taken its role as a connector for the LGBTQ+ community very seriously. We are aware that in certain instances, digital platforms such as ours are used to target LGBTQ+ people,” a Grindr spokesperson said in an email. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, harassment, and abusive behavior and work hard to ensure a safe and authentic environment free of harmful and fake accounts, scammers, and bad actors.”
LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG Salisbury said it was “horrified and disheartened” after learning about the “bias-motivated attack” against a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“PFLAG recognizes that the effects of this deliberate, premeditated act that targeted a person based on their sexual orientation will ripple across the Salisbury University campus, the Lower Shore, and the State of Maryland, reviving and increasing anxiety and collective distress,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday.
In September, the FBI released its annual report showing hate crimes against the LGBTQ community were on the rise, with 2,402 recorded incidents in 2023 relating to a victim’s sexual orientation, up from 1,947 from the year prior.
CNN’s Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.
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