SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University and borough police are investigating a young man’s troubling and puzzling claims.

The 19-year-old told authorities that he was attacked and badly beaten last week by four others on the SRU campus.

Two days later, he said he was stabbed in the leg after being accosted by three others while off campus not far from the earlier assault.

The alleged victim, Sheldon Linneman of Charleroi, Washington County, who has been recently staying at an apartment in Slippery Rock, was treated at hospitals after each incident, authorities said.

SRU police on Thursday got arrest warrants for two of the four men that Linneman claimed attacked him Dec. 2 near the water tower path on campus.

Linneman recognized the two men — one a current SRU student and the other a former student.

But while their investigation continued Monday, university police apparently started questioning some of Linneman’s story about the on-campus assault.

This morning, police took the unusual step of rescinding both arrest warrants.

SRU police declined to comment and referred all questions to university spokesman Rita Abent.

“In the course of the investigation,” Abent said, “police discovered new information which led to the decision to withdraw the arrest warrants.”

She declined further comment, adding only that the SRU police investigation continues.

The Butler Eagle could not reach Linneman, a student at Edinboro University in Crawford County, for comment Monday.

An Edinboro University spokesman said Linneman has been taking two online courses offered by the school.

Linneman initially told SRU police that he was walking alone on the trail by the water tower about 4 p.m. Dec. 2 when four black males jumped him. He was hit on the head with an unknown object and punched in the face several times before losing consciousness.

He believed one of the attackers also hit him on his legs with a stick.

While he was on the ground, according to court documents, one of the males threatened his ex-girlfriend, an SRU student.

University police were called to the reported assault and took Linneman to their station. A Slippery Rock Ambulance crew tended to him there. Later, his ex-girlfriend took him to a hospital for further treatment.

An ambulance officer described the injuries as “moderate.”

Police said Linneman the next day identified two of his alleged attackers. The two others he did not recognize.

About 9:45 p.m. Thursday, Linneman claimed he was victimized again.

This time, he told borough police, three people accosted him on West Liberty Street behind St. Peter’s Catholic Church, just a quarter-mile or so from the alleged attack two days earlier.

“He said he was attacked by a couple guys while he was walking down the street,” said Slippery Rock Police Chief Terry Fedokovitz. During the attack, Linneman told police that he was knocked to the ground and stabbed in the left leg by an unknown sharp object or blade.

He told police that he did not get a look at any of the assailants’ faces. There apparently were no witnesses, police said.

Linneman claimed he managed to get away from his attackers and run about three blocks to the McDonald’s restaurant on Main Street, where he went inside to get help, Fedokovitz said.

The police chief said Linneman was bleeding when police found him. He characterized the wound as “not bad.”

He was taken to the Grove City Medical Center and later moved to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was released Friday.

Later that day, borough police interviewed Linneman at the station. Police described him as “cooperative.”

Fedokovitz said a motive for the attack was unclear. He said police have “persons of interest” but no suspects in the case.

He noted that his department and SRU police are sharing information about their investigations.

Abent said SRU in both cases last week activated its emergency notification system, issuing e-mails and text messages to students with the latest information about the alleged crimes.