A group of about 10 men who barged into an NIU fraternity party early Sunday morning and attacked some NIU students were probably members of a Rockford street gang, DeKalb Police said.

Members of business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi were throwing a small, private initiation party on High Terrace when the uninvited guests came in the back door of the house looking for beer, said DeKalb Police Lt. Chuck Kross.

“We said, ‘Hey, this is a closed party. You’ll have to leave,'” said one member of Delta Sigma Pi. But the intruders refused to leave and continued to push their way into the house, he said.

As soon as the “rude” gang members were escorted out the door, a bottle came crashing through the door’s window and a nearby basement window was smashed, he said. When the fraternity members ran outside to see what was happening, a crowd of 20 to 25 people charged around the corner of the house, he said.

“We yelled for everybody to come inside and we locked the door. We thought we got everybody in, but three or four people were stuck outside,” he said.

The gang members started throwing more bottles, and one member of the fraternity was hit near his eye, he said. “We weren’t trying to fight. It was more of a panic thing. We were trying to get everybody together inside,” he said.

Fraternity members then called the police. Units from the DeKalb Police, the University Police, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the Illinois State Police and a DeKalb Fire Department ambulance responded to the call.

Four other fraternity members were kicked and suffered bruises and scratches, the Delta Sigma Pi member said.

Charged in the incident were Willie M. Cole, 21, 833 Ridge Road, Apt. 209, and Jahmal Stanford, 18, Rockford. Also charged were two 17-year-old youths from Rockford.

Cole was not identified as being at the party or as being a gang member, but was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing a peace officer when he interfered with the other three men’s arrests at the DeKalb Police department, Kross said.

Walston was charged with battery, and Willis and Stanford were charged with criminal trespass to property, police said.

Gangs aren’t new to DeKalb. Gang members from Rockford, Aurora, Chicago and other cities have come to DeKalb to attend NIU and to visit students or townspeople, Kross said.

“What we are seeing is a younger group of people under 18 years old in DeKalb claiming gang affiliation,” Kross said. “What we are seeing is people dressing the dress, walking the walk, talking the talk” of street gangs, Kross said.

How many of these people actually belong to gangs is undetermined. When gang members are arrested by the DeKalb Police, they are considered as individual offenders rather than gang members, Kross said.

Members of Delta Sigma Pi hope their problem can serve as a warning to others.

“I think it was unfortunate that this had to occur. We were minding our own business. I think everyone should know if you have a private party—beware. Something like this could occur,” one Delta Sigma Pi member said.