CANYON LAKE - Police said Tuesday they have no evidence so far in their ongoing investigation that a New Year's brawl in Canyon Lake was a hate crime.

The fight happened about 1:15 a.m. New Year's Day outside a home where a party was being held in the area of Continental and Emperor drives.

It started when one of the invited partygoers was assaulted and knocked unconscious by a group of youths, Canyon Lake police Sgt. Todd Kelly said.

"We don't know yet why that happened," Kelly said, because the victim is "not telling us anything."

Officers have conducted nearly two dozen interviews so far, but no arrests have been made.

There has been speculation from some of those involved that the attackers were white supremacists and that the assault was racially motivated, but police have not been able to confirm it was a hate crime, Kelly said.

Some of the alleged attackers did have shaved heads and swastika tattoos, he said.

Police believe the youths who started the melee are from the Hemet area, not from Canyon Lake, the sergeant said. None of the attackers have been interviewed, he added, but they will be soon.

Kelly said officers aren't getting a lot of help in the investigation because many of the victims and witnesses are not cooperating.

What police have been able to determine so far is that, after the first attack, friends of the victim called others who were not at the party to come help him, Kelly said. A group of five of the victim's friends responded, the sergeant said.

"I believe at least one, if not more, of those five were looking for revenge, not just to get their friend out of there," Kelly said.

Police say one witness they've interviewed told them a window of a car parked outside the party house was broken when the five showed up. Kelly said the car belonged to the grandmother of a partygoer who drove it to Canyon Lake.

The broken window led to the first group spilling out from the party house and fighting with the five. Three of the five left almost immediately, leaving two behind who were badly beaten, police said.

The father of one of the two injured youths said Monday that his son had skull and facial fractures and that his son's friend received a broken jaw, which had to be wired shut.

The first youth who was attacked, as well as his two friends who were beaten when they got there, were knocked unconscious at some point, Kelly said.

During the two brawls that morning, attackers yelled things like "white power," and used a racial slur usually directed at blacks, police have been told. However, the victims were all white, Kelly said.

"I don't think they believed these kids were black," the sergeant said. "That's just the worst name skinheads believe they can call anybody" so they used it during the fights.

Police are also trying to determine what weapons may have been used during the fights. There had been reports of bricks, rocks and possibly even a shovel.

The owner of the home where the party took place also has yet to be interviewed and apparently is out of town, Kelly said. Officers will be talking to the homeowner, he said.

There didn't appear to be a responsible adult at the home the night of the party, police said, which was attended primarily by partygoers in the range of 17 to 18 years old.

Police ask that anyone with information about the party or the fights call Cpl. Chad Loeffer at (951) 244-2955, Ext. 16.

- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.