A dozen Salisbury University students have been arrested and charged with assault and associated hate crimes for an alleged attack on a man Oct. 15.

On Tuesday, Salisbury Police said in a news release that seven students had been charged in connection to the incident.

Salisbury Police identified seven students, all between the ages 18 and 20, in a news release.

Police said the incident took place in an off-campus apartment in the 1400 block of University Terrace, where the group used the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr to lure the victim “under false pretenses” and then filmed the assault.

Five more students were arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the attack, Salisbury Police said Thursday.

A Facebook news release Thursday afternoon confirmed the arrest and identities of the five students: Cameron Guy,18, from Baltimore; Jacob Howard,19, from Elkridge; Eric Sinclair, 21, from Mounty Airy; Patrick Gutierrez, 19, from Salisbury; and Dylan Pietuszka, 20, from Friendship.

Four of the 12 Salisbury University students who allegedly assaulted and committed hate crimes against a man Oct. 15 are from Anne Arundel County, charging documents say.

The victim said he did not call the police after the assault because he was “in fear of his safety due to retaliation and being threatened by the attackers,” according to charging documents.

The victim told police that he made contact with Zachary Leinemann, an 18-year-old from Crofton, who used the alias “Mason” on the dating app.

When the victim arrived at the apartment, Leinemann allegedly made a vocal signal, prompting about 15 men to appear from the back bedrooms, initiating the alleged attack.

James Britt, Leinemann’s attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Charging documents say the victim was forced onto a chair and then recorded while being assaulted. At one point the victim was made to read a weather report from a notebook. During the alleged assault, the victim was called anti-gay slurs.

Police were able to identify one of the suspects, 19-year-old Elijah Johnson, of Crofton, through a list of the registered tenants of the apartment where the alleged incident took place. Johnson was also identified as being in the video engaging in the assault, according to charging documents.

The victim is not a student at Salisbury University, Jason Rhodes, spokesperson for the school, said in an email Thursday. In addition to Leinemann and Johnson, Riley Bristor, 20, from Davidsonville; Ryder Baker, 20, from Montgomery County; Bennan Aird, 18, from Delaware; Cruz Cespedes, 19, from Harford County; and Dylan Earp, 20, from Gambrills, were also arrested.

All 12 of the suspects were charged with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, and “the associated hate crime charges,” according to news releases.

Steven Rakow, attorney for Bristor, denied the incident was a hate crime and said his client’s involvement “if any, was very minimal.”

“I think what is driving this entire investigation and matter is that there was a belief that these young men jumped some guy because he was gay, and that’s just not correct,” he said Thursday.

The Salisbury Police Department did not return a request for comment.

William Hall, attorney for Bennan Aird, declined to comment.

Seven of those charged Thursday were released on their own recognizance. Six of the seven suspects are scheduled for preliminary hearings in early December, except for Leinemann who is set for a trial Dec. 20, according to charging documents.

“The thought of SU students perpetrating any crime is upsetting, but the thought of SU students perpetuating crimes of such disturbing nature is truly horrifying,” Carolyn Lepre, president of Salisbury University said in a statement posted to X on Wednesday. “So let me be clear, we are upset by these allegations. I am upset about these allegations.”

Lepre indicated in her social media statement that some of those arrested are members of a campus fraternity. The school placed Sigma Alpha Epsilon on suspension. It is unclear how many of those arrested are members.

The12 students accused of being involved have been placed on interim suspension, “the most severe form of discipline possible until the outcome of the criminal investigation,” Rhodes said in an email Thursday. Under interim suspension a student is no longer permitted in class, in-person or online, in their residence hall or on any university property.

“Our community is reeling from an act of visceral hate. We are witnessing a campus filled with anguish that something so unspeakable could happen from within the community that we all love,” Lepre said in an email to the campus Thursday.

Have a news tip? Contact Megan Loock at mloock@baltsun.com or 443-962-5771.