Five Massachusetts college students are facing criminal charges after luring a soldier onto their school campus to ambush him in a TikTok-inspired “To Catch the Beast” video.
The five were among a larger group of about 30 students who chased the unidentified man from the Assumption University building after he was invited there by a student on the dating app Tinder through October 1, according to a criminal complaint filed by campus police in Worcester District Court on Dec. 4.
According to the complaint, there was nothing to indicate that the victim which is intended to meet anyone under the age. The woman who invited him to campus, 18-year-old Kelsy Brainard, indicated her age on her dating app profile, police said.
LEGAL HONDURAN IMMIGRANT PARTICIPANT CALLS US WOMAN, 'FREAKED' AFTER SELLING COPIES.
La Maison Francaise on the Assumption University campus, where the 22-year-old soldier was allegedly lured via Tinder and attacked by students on Oct. 1. (Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Minutes before the altercation, police said, footage shows the victim was watching a baseball game in a student lounge with Brainard and there was “sufficient personal space between see,” according to a video of the incident shared among students and seen by police.
Regardless, a group of students framed the 22-year-old man and confronted him in the lounge as part of a “deliberate incident,” WCVB reports.
Students emerged from hidden areas with their phones, recording as they taunted the man as a “sex offender,” grabbed him and barred him from the classroom. catch my breath. When he ran away, 25 people gave chase.
WASHINGTON MONAKALE ACCUSED OF HARASSING CELLMATE AFTER CHANGING REASON, TO WOMEN'S PRISON.
Another student, who was not named in court documents because he is a minor, allegedly hit the victim in the back of the head. As soon as the victim got to his car, another student hit his car door with his head. It is not clear if the man was injured in the incident.
“A few minutes later, you see the group come back, laughing and violently fighting each other,” police wrote in the complaint.
The victim's father told WCVB that his son is currently serving in the military and was deployed overseas days after the attack.
Easton Randall, 19, told police he and his peers were inspired by the popular NBC series “To Catch a Predator,” which featured the show's host Chris Hansen confronting men lured to a house where they were they think they are meeting children for sex before they give themselves up. The men arrived at the waiting police.
Randall said the group was cashing in on the TikTok trend created after the show, where people lure a sex offender instead of attacking them, exposing them or handing them over to the police.
Randall, Brainard, 18-year-old Isabella Trudeau and 18-year-old Joaquin Smith face charges of kidnapping and conspiracy, WCVB reported. Brainard was also charged with intimidation; 18-year-old Kevin Carroll, who allegedly hit the victim in the head with a car door, is charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon.
Construction continues on the Health and Sciences building at Assumption College, now Assumption University, on Thursday, May 21, 2020. (Christine Peterson/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via USA TODAY NETWORK)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
An attorney listed for Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and attorneys for the other students were not listed on the court docket. The other four defendants could not be reached for comment. The students are scheduled to appear in court on January 16.
Assumption University President Greg Weiner said the incident was “abhorrent and contrary to the mission and values of Assumption University” in a statement and said the school's Department of Public Safety immediately took action. investigation after the alleged attack.
Weiner wrote: “This situation is especially serious because the victim is an active member of the military. “His service reminds us of the sacrifices made by those who defend our freedom, including the opportunity to pursue a college education. “