MD Frat Members Charged With Anti-Gay Hate Crime

CBS News reports:

Twelve Salisbury University students, including seven associated with a fraternity, have been charged with a hate crime for an alleged brutal attack on a man because of his sexual orientation, according to authorities.

One of the suspects created an account on Grindr, a dating app, posing as a 16-year-old, to lure the victim to an off-campus apartment where he was attacked and called anti-gay slurs, according to police reports. The attack happened on October 15.

Salisbury University said all of the students have been suspended, along with the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, where some of the suspects were members.

Washington DC’s ABC affiliate reports:

Police said the suspects, aged 18-20, reportedly created a fake account on Grindr, a gay dating app, pretending to be a 16-year-old and convincing the victim to meet him at an apartment on the 1400 block of University Terrace on Oct. 15. When the victim arrived, however, he told police he heard a suspect yell “YEE YEE” before 15 men appeared from a back bedroom and forced him into a chair.

For several minutes, the victim was reportedly forced to read a handwritten weather report while the college-aged men “slapped, punched, kicked, and spit” on him while spouting gay slurs, much of which was captured across several videos. In one video, police said a suspect hit the male victim with a cooking sheet before calling him another slur. After several attempts, the man was able to leave, but not without sustaining multiple bruises and a broken rib.

The New York Times reports:

The students, all men ranging in age from 18 to 20, face assault and hate crime charges in the attack, the Salisbury Police Department said in a news release on Tuesday. The person attacked was not identified to protect their safety, though police said the individual is not a student at Salisbury University.

Jason Rhodes, a spokesman for Salisbury University, said in a statement that the university condemns all acts of violence. “Any student who commits an act of violence can expect to face criminal charges, as well as disciplinary action under S.U.’s Student Code of Community Standards,” the statement said.

Salisbury is a four year public university on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with about 6,200 undergraduate students.

Lawyers for two of the students claim that the victim is an adult who was intending to have sex with the fictitious 16 year old.