Jussie Smollett: Police Release Images of ‘Persons of Interest’ – Suspicious ‘Redneck’ with Rope Spotted Before Attack

As we previously reported, Smollett was attacked in Chicago by two masked assailants who yelled racial and homophobic slurs at the actor.The suspects reportedly doused him with bleach and tied a noose around his neck during the racially-charged attack. Smollett reportedly transported himself to a local hospital and was released early Tuesday afternoon in “good condition” hours later.

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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

The vicious thugs allegedly recognized Jussie from his role as gay singer/songwriter Jamal Lyon on “Empire” and shouted, “Aren’t you that f**got Empire n**ger?”

Smollett told law enforcement that the attackers yelled “MAGA country” as they fled the scene.

The actor’s manager, Brandon Z. Moore, said he was on the phone with his client at the time of the attack, and confirmed that the suspects used racial slurs.

“I heard that clearly. I heard the scuffle, and I heard the racial slur,” Moore told Variety.

Meanwhile, TMZ has learned that a woman who lives in Jussie’s apartment building told cops she saw a suspicious man — who she described as a “redneck” — loitering outside the entrance to the building shortly before attack.

Per TMZ:

The woman  — who asked us not to use her name — tells TMZ, she walked out of the building at 12:30 AM Tuesday to take her dogs out and saw the man near the door, pacing between the parking garage and entrance, looking agitated and smoking a cigarette. She says, “He looked out of place.” He was a white man with scruff on his face wearing a blue winter beanie, a blue zip-up sweatshirt with a hood and blue jeans that were too short, exposing “thick, grey hunting socks” with camel-colored dress shoes.

The woman says she noticed what looked like a rope, or a clothesline, protruding from the bottom of his sweatshirt, and he was staring at another man about 300 feet away, who was standing near another entrance to the building, the report states.

The following morning, when she learned of the assault on Jussie she was encouraged by the doorman to notify police about the mystery men she saw hanging around the entrance.

Meanwhile, the FBI is assisting in the investigation after it was confirmed that an earlier threat was made against Jussie in the form of a letter before the attack.