CNN
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Twelve students at Salisbury University in Maryland are facing assault and hate crime charges after they allegedly targeted a man “because of his sexual preferences” and lured him to an off-campus apartment, where they they knocked, police said.

The students, all males between the ages of 18 and 21, were charged with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and related felonies in connection with the Oct. 15 incident, Salisbury Police Department said in a press release Thursday.

Police say a man was invited “under false pretenses” to an apartment in Salisbury, where a group of men immediately surrounded him at the entrance, forced him into a living room chair and then began -hit him, punch him and spit while calling him. derogatory names, police said.

One of the men met the victim on the LGBTQ dating app Grindr, pretended to be 16 and set up a meeting “for the purpose of having sex,” according to a charging document obtained by CNN affiliate WJZ. The legal age of consent in Maryland he is 16 years old.

According to the charging document, the police analyzed 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 closed the door, one of the students yelled “YEE YEE” and about 15 college-aged men emerged from the bedrooms and assaulted him while using a homophobic slur, among other derogatory terms, to refer to. to him.

The victim told police he tried to leave the apartment several times but was “grabbed by several 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 on his body from the attack, police said.

The alleged fight, which lasted about five to six minutes, came to light after two witnesses reported to university police on Oct. 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 taken from a defendant’s phone led police to the victim and possibly additional suspects, according to the document.

“An investigation revealed that the victim was targeted because of his sexual preferences,” Salisbury police said.

Attorney James L. Britt, who represents one of the suspects, said The Baltimore Banner the incident was unrelated to the victim’s sexual orientation.

“Once all the facts come to light, this case will prove to be a baseless attempt to expose someone willing to travel to have sex with a 16-year-old,” Britt told the Baltimore Banner.

“Let me be clear — this is not a hate crime,” Steve Rakow, an attorney for one of the men charged in the incident, said 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 Dec. 6, Rakow said, noting that his client plans to plead not guilty.

CNN has reached out to Salisbury police for comment, as well as attorneys for some of the defendants.

Salisbury University president Carolyn Ringer Lepre described the alleged attack as “truly horrifying” in a statement to the student body.

“Acts of violence against LGBTQ+ and allied communities are not only destructive, but are inconsistent with the principles of community, respect and belonging that bind us together as a university,” Lepre said.

“These actions do not reflect the SU I know and love. A place where everyone should feel safe and free from harm. A place where violence is unacceptable.”

The arrested students were suspended, at university said.

“This includes restriction from campus and the inability to attend academic classes, either in person or virtually,” a university statement said.

At least some of the students are members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which has been suspended, the university said.

Grindr told CNN in a statement that it is “ready to cooperate with law enforcement requests to support their investigation.”

“Grindr has always taken its role as a connector for the LGBTQ+ community seriously. We are aware that in some cases digital platforms like ours are being 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 “appalled and dismayed” after learning of the “bias-motivated attack” against a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“PFLAG recognizes that the effects of this deliberate, premeditated act that targeted an individual based on their sexual orientation will ripple across Salisbury University’s campus, the Lower Shore, and the state of Maryland, reigniting and increasing collective anxiety and suffering,” the organization said. said in a statement Wednesday.

In September, the F.B.I published its annual report which shows that hate crimes against the LGBTQ community were on the rise, with 2,402 incidents recorded in 2023 related to the sexual orientation of the victim, up from 1,947 the year before.

CNN’s Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.