Three more college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland

SALISBURY, Md. — Police in Maryland have arrested three more Salisbury University students on hate crime charges following an attack in which investigators say a man was lured to an off-campus apartment, beaten and called a homophobic slur.

The latest arrests brought the number of defendants to 15 in the Oct. 15 attack, after a dozen others were arrested earlier this month. Police in Salisbury, a city of about 35,000 in the state’s Eastern Shore region, said in a statement Thursday that they don’t expect to make further arrests.

In addition to assault and false imprisonment, the defendants face hate crime charges for allegedly targeting the victim because he’s gay, police said. According to charging documents, one of the defendants made a fake account on a dating app and promised the victim sex with a 16-year-old.

The man’s age is not included in court documents. The legal age of consent in Maryland is 16 in most cases.

Court records don’t list attorneys for two of the three newest defendants. A lawyer for the other one declined to comment about the case.

The Salisbury Police Department started investigating after two witnesses told campus police that they had seen a video of the assault, according to charging documents. Police said the victim received a broken rib and extensive bruising.

Steve Rakow, an attorney for one of the students who was arrested previously, vehemently rejected the hate crime designation. He said the man never reported what happened because he was trying to have sex with a teenage boy.

Salisbury University leaders have condemned the attack and pledged to make sure members of the LGBTQ+ community feel safe on campus. They held a unity walk on Monday to show their support.