Chicago, IL - Three teenagers were charged with a hate crime after they allegedly attacked another youth at a home on the South Side in December — putting a noose around his neck, threatening him with a knife and calling him a racial epithet, police said Wednesday.

The victim, who is 17, and one of the alleged attackers are both students at Brother Rice High School on the South Side, police said. The accused are all white — ranging in age from 16 to 18 — and the victim is black, police said.

The incident happened Dec. 23, when the victim went to the home of one of the accused in the 1600 block of W. 100th Place, police said. It was unclear why the victim went to the home, but police said the attack stemmed from his relationship with “one of the offenders’ family members,” police said.

The victim told police that during the attack, the teens twice put a noose around his neck, threatened him with a knife, used the N-word and refused to let him leave the house. The victim was eventually able to escape.

In an interview with Fox Chicago News, the victim said one attacker threatened him with a knife and told him “stop talking to my cousin, you are annoying her; if you don’t stop, I’m going to kill you.”

The teens were charged Jan. 10, police said. Two have been charged in juvenile court. The third, Matthew Herrmann, 18, is charged as an adult.