HAMMOND — Police in Hammond are investigating whether the burning of a 9-year-old boy by a group of older boys might have been a hate crime.

Police say the boy was making a campfire in a wooded area near an apartment complex in the northwest Indiana city with three other boys June 8 when someone threw alcohol on him and it ignited. The boys told police they panicked and fled when the youngster’s shirt caught fire.

The 9-year-old suffered severe burns to his back, right arm and neck and remained hospitalized Tuesday.

The 9-year-old is black and the other boys were white.

Police Chief Brian Miller says the boy’s parents wonder if race was a factor.

Miller says he intends to forward evidence in the case to Lake County prosecutors and to the FBI, which investigates hate crimes.