Suspect arrested in assault of St. Cloud State student

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with an assault that left a St. Cloud State University student with severe facial injuries.

According to the St. Cloud Police Department, 20-year-old Ezayah Marcell Gomez Oropeza, of Burnsville, was arrested Tuesday evening and booked into the Stearns County Jail on suspicion of third-degree assault. He has not been formally charged.

Around 1:41 a.m. on Sept. 18, St. Cloud police officers responded to a report of a fight on the 700 block of Eighth Street South. The officers were eventually able to find a 20-year-old in a nearby home with injuries to his head and face.

The victim’s family has identified the victim as 20-year-old Chad Waldrop. They said he required facial reconstruction surgery and that doctors had to add five metal plates to his face and wire his jaw shut to heal correctly.

The police department said its investigation into the incident over the past week led to the arrest of Gomez Oropeza.

A person with the suspect’s name is listed as a member of the school’s wrestling team. In a statement on Twitter, St. Cloud State said a student-athlete in question had been suspended as the school conducted an investigation.