A suspect has been identified in an attack on a group of University of Georgia students who were on a weekend kayaking excursion, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Madison County investigators have not released the man’s name because they are in the process of interviewing him.
The attack happened Saturday on the Broad River near Roy Woods Road, Madison sheriff’s office spokesman Capt. Jimmy Patton told AJC.com.
The students were getting out of the river about 8 p.m. when the suspect approached them and began harassing one of them about his long hair, a sheriff’s incident report said.
“Are you a man-(expletive) or a (expletive)-man?” the suspect asked, according to the incident report.
After a second student intervened in the altercation, the suspect said he would “(expletive) every one of them up,” the incident report said. He then jumped the man with the long hair, according to authorities.
The student who intervened tried to break up the melee and received a cut on his ear and a knot on the back of his head, the report said.
At some point, the suspect dragged a third student underwater and held him there for nearly 45 seconds, according to the sheriff’s office.
A woman in the group tried to hit the suspect with a paddle, but he punched her, officials said. The suspect punched her so hard that the woman fell into the water, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies noted redness and swelling under her eye.
The victims tried to get the suspect's friends to step in, but none of them intervened, a female student in the group told the Athens Banner-Herald.
“I’m like trying to get his friends to come get him, but his friends weren’t doing anything,” she said. “They all just yelled, ‘He’s got PTSD,’ but no one is helping get the dude off or calm him down.”
She urged someone to call 911, but the man’s friends told her: “You don’t want to do that. He knows everyone in this town.”
The man reportedly threatened to get his gun from a truck, and the group of kayakers ran into the woods to hide, according to the Banner-Herald. The victims called 911 from a cellphone, but the attacker was gone by the time deputies arrived.
No charges have been filed against the man at this time, Patton said. His friends are being considered witnesses in the case, which remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Madison County Investigator Sam Beard at 706-795-6202.
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