HOLLYWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 01: Jussie Smollett attends Espolòn Celebrates Day of the Dead at Academy Nightclub on November 1, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tasia Wells/Getty Images for Espolòn)
CHICAGO — Chicago police have identified “persons of interest” in the alleged attack of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
“These individuals are not yet suspects but were in area of concern and are being questioned,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted.
Around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, the 36-year-old actor said he was talking to his manager on the phone while walking in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, when two masked men beat him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an “unknown chemical substance” on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing.
After the attack, Smollett returned to his apartment, and his manager called police from there about 40 minutes later, Guglielmi said. When officers arrived, the actor had cuts and scrapes on his face and the rope around his neck that he said had been put there by his assailant, he said. He says he left the rope and clothes on when police arrived “because I wanted them to see.”
Smollett later went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital after police advised him to do so.
No arrests have been made. Police say they’ve not found surveillance video that shows the attack but that the investigation is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check for details.
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