Suspects in an attack on the Lewis & Clark College campus reportedly referenced racist posts on social media before assaulting a black student Friday night.
Lewis & Clark student Valcourt Honore said he was with the victim before and after the attack. Portland police identified the victim as a 26-year-old, foreign-born black man.
Honore said he and the victim were hanging out when the latter left to buy some food.
When the victim returned around 9 p.m., three white males confronted him in a secluded part of the campus along the estate gardens near a reflection pool, campus officials said.
The victim said, according to Honore, that the suspects then referenced racist social media posts that appeared earlier in the week on Yik Yak, an app that lets people share anonymous posts with users located near them.
“They asked him what he was doing there because he’s a black student and he’s not supposed to be at this place,” Honore said.
The men then attacked the victim, who reported that at least one of the men grabbed him from behind and tried to force him to drink an unknown substance.
The victim eventually broke free from the attackers, according to Honore. When he returned, Honore helped take care of the victim for about 40 minutes before they contacted campus security.
“He was trying to vomit,” Honore said. “That thing that he drank, he thought it could have an effect on him.”
Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson said the department is investigating the attack as a “bias crime.”
