Police: Smollett suspected of lying about attack

CHICAGO (AP) —A police official says “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett is now considered a suspect “for filing a false police report” and that detectives are presenting the case against him to a grand jury.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted the news on Wednesday after Smollett’s attorneys met with prosecutors and detectives.

Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men while walking home from a Subway sandwich shop at around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. He says they beat him, hurled racist and homophobic insults at him and looped a rope around his neck before fleeing.

Police couldn’t find surveillance video of the attack but questioned two men who were initially deemed as suspects but who were released Friday. On Saturday, Guglielmi said information from the men had “shifted” the investigation and that police want to speak to Smollett again.

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