Police have released images of people of interest who could possibly be linked to the attack of Empire‘s Jussie Smollett.
The actor was attacked in Chicago in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a potential hate crime.
After police launched an investigation into the attack, they released photos from CCTV footage of two men who may be connected to the assault.
Photos of people of interest who were in area of the alleged assault & battery of Empire cast member. While video does not capture an encounter, detectives are taking this development seriously & wish to question individuals as more cameras are being reviewed pic.twitter.com/xJDDygtocr
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) January 31, 2019
Chief Communications Officer of Chicago Police, Anthony Guglielmi tweeted the snaps of the men and wrote: “Photos of people of interest who were in area of the alleged assault & battery of Empire cast member.”
“While video does not capture an encounter, detectives are taking this development seriously & wish to question individuals as more cameras are being reviewed.”
Anthony also spoke about the case to People and said: “The victim goes to Subway just after midnight and on his way back, he was attacked by two men.”
“They were masked and wearing black clothing. They called him an Empire … and they used a homophobic slur. They also used the N-word. They proceed to assault him, and they throw a chemical on him that may have been bleach, and put a rope around neck.”
The communications officer added that Jussie went straight home after the attack and called his manager: “The manager goes to the apartment, and they agree to call police. The manager called us at 2:40 a.m.”
The police “responded to the residence to take a report and the victim was still wearing the rope around his neck when they arrived.”
Many celebrities and fans have been showing support for Jussie since the attack.
