Police Still Questioning Two Brothers In Connection To Alleged Attack On Jussie Smollett; Charges Could Be Filed Today

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago police for the first time have called two men questioned in connection to the Jussie Smollett case “potential suspects,” but police have yet to file charges in the alleged attack in Streeterville. Meantime, two sources with intimate knowledge of the investigation tells CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards the attack on Smollett was potentially orchestrated by the actor himself, and involved two other men.
Chicago police are calling those reports unconfirmed.

“Interrogations will resume today with the two individuals and their attorney. While we haven’t found any video documenting the alleged attack, there is also no evidence to say that this is a hoax. The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect. For clarification, the two individuals interviewed are classified as potential suspects. Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues,” Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated in an email Friday morning.

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The two men were seen on surveillance video near where Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29. The suspects being questioned by detectives in the case are brothers who worked on Empire with Smollett. Their attorney says they could be charged on Friday.

Police raided their home on Wednesday, the same day police met them at O’Hare International Airport, as they were returning from a trip to Nigeria.

Gloria Schmidt, the attorney representing those two men in the case, said they have been in custody at Area Central detective headquarters since Wednesday night.

“When they first learned about what happened to him they were horrified. This is someone they know. This is someone they’ve worked with, so they don’t want to see somebody go through that,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said police detained her clients Wednesday evening at Customs at O’Hare. The two men were returning from a trip to Nigeria when officers raided their family’s home on the North Side.

Pictures from the raid show the front door busted off its frame, items thrown across the living room, bedroom doors damaged and clothes tossed everywhere.

Police left behind an inventory list. Some of the items seized include a black face mask hat, an Empire script, phone, receipts, a red hat and bleach.

Smollett has told police two men attacked him in Streeterville around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, as he was heading home to his apartment. He said they yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him, poured some type of chemical on him and even put a rope around his neck.

The actor and singer gave his first public account of the attack in an interview on Good Morning America.

“When the police came, I kept the clothes on. I kept the rope,” Smollett said. “I mean, it wasn’t like wrapped around, but yeah it was around because I wanted them to see. I wanted them to see what this was.”

Smollett, 36, is black and openly gay.

Investigators have said the alleged attack was not recorded on surveillance video, but police released a grainy image of the two men who were in the area at the time of the alleged crime.