UPDATE: The Iowa City Police Department says it is investigating the attack on a black University of Iowa student as a hate crime.

Police say the student, which family identifies as 19-year-old freshman Marcus Owens, reported the attack to police on Monday. Owens told police the attack happened between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, April 30 in an alley of the 200 block of Iowa Avenue.

Owens says a college-aged white man approached him and then hit him several times. He says two other white men, also college-aged, joined in the attack at that point while yelling racial slurs at Owens.

Owens was later treated for injuries at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Owens' family described those injuries as requiring a dozen stitches and a damaged eye socket.