Police Probe Tip Of Smollett In Elevator With Accused Men On Night Of Attack

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police are investigating a tip that on the night “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett reported being attacked by two masked men he was in an elevator of his apartment building with two brothers later arrested and released from custody in the probe, a department spokesman told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the person who lives in the building or was visiting someone there reported seeing the three together the night in question last month. Smollett said two masked men hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him, beat him and looped a rope around his neck.

Guglielmi says police haven’t confirmed the person’s account. Detectives plan to interview the person on Tuesday.

Last week, police announced that the “investigation had shifted” following interviews with the brothers and their release from custody without charges. Police have requested another interview with Smollett. They have declined to comment on reports that the attack was a hoax.

Smollett’s lawyers have said the actor was angered and “victimized” by reports he may have played a role in staging the attack.

“Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying,” the statement from attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson said in a statement late Saturday.

Anne Kavanagh, a spokeswoman for Smollett’s lawyers, said they would “keep an active dialogue with Chicago police on his behalf.” Kavanagh didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, reported he was physically attacked while he was getting a sandwich around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29 near his home downtown Chicago. He said the men shouted the slurs and yelled “This is MAGA country,” an apparent reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Smollett also said the attackers poured some kind of chemical on him.

Police looked through hours of video surveillance from the area but found no footage of an attack. They did find and release images of two people they said they wanted to question.

On Wednesday police picked up two brothers at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport as they returned from Nigeria and questioned them about the attack. They also searched the apartment where the men live.

The men, who had been held for about 48 hours on suspicion of assaulting Smollett, were released Friday. Guglielmi said the next day that information police received from the men “has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.”