Authorities are investigating the second incident in a month in which a Jewish student attending the University of Pittsburgh was attacked, possibly motivated by the victim’s religion.
The FBI, which is currently assisting University of Pittsburgh Police, said it has opened its own investigation.
According to university police, the student was walking off campus early Friday morning when a group of six to eight men assaulted the unidentified victim.
”During the assault, the actors used anti-Semitic language. A bystander intervened and ended the assault,” Pittsburgh University Police said in a news release in which it categorized the incident as a “Hate Crime/Assault.”
The student’s condition was not immediately clear.
Authorities released descriptions of at least three suspects they said were in their early 20s.
The FBI, which is assisting campus police, has opened a separate investigation into the assault to determine whether it constituted a federal hate crime.
The university said in a statement Friday that it “unequivocally condemns antisemitism.”
“Any violence or antisemitic acts against our community will not be tolerated,” it said. “Regardless of who it comes from, or who it is directed at, hate of any kind has no place in our community.”
Friday’s attack follows an Aug. 29 incident at Pitt in which two Jewish students were attacked by a man wielding a glass bottle.
The suspect in that attack, identified as Jarrett Buba, has been charged with two counts of simple assault, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of recklessly endangering another person, two counts of harassment and one count of resisting arrest.
Andrew Blankstein
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western U.S., specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.
Simone Weichselbaum
Simone Weichselbaum is a national investigative reporter for NBC News, focusing on local and federal law enforcement issues. She previously was a police reporter for The Marshall Project, the New York Daily News and the Philadelphia Daily News. She holds a graduate degree in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rebecca Cohen
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