ISU Student Claims Attack Was Based on Hate

A student at Illinois State University was hospitalized with scrapes and bruises on his face, broken teeth, and a fractured jaw after being attacked early Saturday morning.

The student, Eric Unger, told the Chicago Sun Times that he was on his way home from a part when a group of men knocked his phone out of his hand. Unger asked the group, "what their problem was." The group of five to eight males then proceeded to hurl antigay slurs at Unger and started assaulting him. "I don't know why people like that go out to do that to people, to single someone out and attack them for no reason," Unger told the Times.

No one is in custody at this time as Unger was unable to provide a detailed description of his attackers. There were no witnesses to the attack and Normal, Ill. Police Sgt. Adam Kapchinske said Unger did not mention that he thought the attack was due to hate in the initial police report the Times reported. Kapchinske later added, "There's no evidence one way or another, and you hate to speculate."