UPDATE, 7 p.m. Thursday: WHDH Channel 7 reports that three suspects have been caught. More details when we have them...

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Police are investigating if an assault at the Forest Hills T, in which a man was kicked and hit by teenage girls, was an anti-gay hate crime, according to Channel 7.

On Sunday at 6:38 p.m., MBTA police were called to the lobby at the station, where they found people helping a man whose face was bloodied. Police went in the direction the assailants fled, according to a police report, and caught up with one of the girls at the end of Tower Street.

The girl said the altercation started when the man "bumped" her with his backpack. The girl said the man took a swing at her and she struck back only in self defense, the police report said. The victim said he exchanged words with one girl and then that girl and two others jumped him and started beating and kicking him.

When the dust cleared, the man found his backpack was missing.

According to a Channel 7 interview with MBTA Transit Police Deputy Chief Joseph O’Connor, "some statements were made relative to his sexual orientation."

Police took the case to the Suffolk District Attorney and Attorney General's office, which counseled to investigate it as a hate crime.

An 18-year-old from Dorchester will be summonsed on charges of unarmed robbery. She could, Channel 7 reports, also face assault and battery and hate crimes charges.

There might be video of the incident. According to the police report, the attack took place in the Forest Hills lobby near the CSA booth, where a video camera is in place. The man's backpack wasn't found.