The Chicago Police Department has arrested 'Empire' star, Jussie Smollett for lying about his attack.
The spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, Anthony Guglielmi announced Jussie's arrest via Twitter on Thursday, February 21, 2019. In his tweet, the police officer said Jussie Smollett is under their custody and they would soon be a press briefing.
"Press Briefing: Jussie Smollett is under arrest and in custody of detectives. At 9 am at #ChicagoPolice Headquarters, Supt Eddie Johnson, Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki will brief reporters on the investigation prior to the defendant's appearance in court," he tweeted.
This latest development is coming less than 24 hours after the grand jury in Cook County found him guilty of felony.
Jussie Smollett indicted by grand jury for felony, accused of filing a false report
Jussie Smollett has been indicted by the grand jury in Chicago for felony after staging his own attack. A Cook County Grand Jury handed down the indictment on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, after going through all the testimonies and evidence.
According to TMZ, the two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo told the jury that they staged the so-called "attack" at Jussie's behest and even got paid for it. The brothers were caught on camera buying a bunch of supplies before the incident including ski masks, gloves, bandanas, sunglasses, and red hats.
Jussie Smollett's lawyers, Todd Pugh, and Victor Henderson released a following statement after the indictment.
"Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."
Prior to the judgment, the Chicago Police Department had said there were too many loopholes on Jussies' side of the story. They found it weird he kept the rope around his neck for 42 minutes after the "attack," and were suspicious when he took them to the scene and immediately pointed to a camera which he said captured the incident. Turns out, the camera was pointed in the wrong direction.
Jussie Smollett hospitalised after reportedly being injured in homophobic attack
Jussie Smollett was hospitalised after he was reportedly injured by two men in what looks like a homophobic attack back in January. According to TMZ, the 'Empire' star arrived in Chicago from New York late Monday. He went to a Subway around 2 am because he was hungry. When he walked out someone yelled, “Aren’t you that f***ot Empire n****?”
There were reportedly two white men wearing ski masks that viciously attacked Jussie as he fought back. He reportedly suffered a fractured rib, and the attackers put a rope around his neck and poured bleach on him as they yelled, “This is MAGA country.”