Police may have a break in the Jussie Smollett case. Investigators have identified the retailer that sold the rope worn by the Empire actor after he was allegedly attacked by two masked men in Chicago late last month.
Police are now visiting every retailer where the rope was sold to obtain video surveillance of the customer who purchased the rope.
.@Chicago_Police say they’ve ID’d retailers of the rope found on #JussieSmollet & are now visiting every store in the city 2 check surveillance 2 see who bought it,” tweeted Fox 32 anchor Rafer Weigel on Thursday.
Weigel also reported police obtained new video footage from a red light camera in the area of the condo.
.@Chicago_Police say they’ve ID’d retailers of the rope found on #JussieSmollet & are now visiting every store in the city 2 check surveillance 2 see who bought it. They’ve also obtained more video from nearby hotels & red light cameras. Still no video of alleged attack
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) February 7, 2019
Weigel was criticized by social media activists who accused him of repeating whatever his police sources tell him.
I realized today that Chicago “reporter” @RaferWeigel is responsible for much of the misinformation disseminated by Chicago PD “sources” about #JussieSmollett as he literally just repeats whatever the police say.
— deray (@deray) February 6, 2019
Smollett, 36, told detectives he was attacked by 2 masked men after he left a Subway restaurant around 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 29.
Smollett said the men recognized him as the character Jamal Lyon on the Fox hip-hop soap opera Empire, and they shouted, “Aren’t you that fa**ot” Empire ni**er?”
He claimed they punched him, poured bleach on him and looped a rope around his neck.
Smollett’s behavior after the alleged attack raised suspicions. Police say Smollett will be charged with filing a false police report if they determine he lied.
