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Jussie Smollett went from being a victim of aggression to suspicious in a few weeks. Here are the events that led the "Empire" actor to surrender.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

CHICAGO – Dozens of city-owned private security cameras have played a crucial role in helping investigators unravel the alleged attacks of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, police and prosecutors said.

Officials said investigators were wary of Smollett from the start.

Officers were sent to investigate a brutal racist and homophobic attack on Smollett early on the morning of January 29th. During the attack, two men threw him a rope around his neck, in the manner of a noose.

When the police arrived at the actor's apartment in the upscale neighborhood of Streeterville in Chicago about 40 minutes after the alleged beating, a detail caught their eye.

"The Chicago police found that Smollett had a rope tied around his neck," said Risa Lanier, Cook County Attorney. "This was captured on a camera worn by the police force. Seconds later, Smollett asked the police to turn off the cameras. "

Again, Police continued for nearly three weeks to publicly identify Smollett as a victim of a possible hate crime.

In this photo from February 1, 2019, a surveillance camera is seen near the place where the "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett allegedly staged the attack in Chicago. The Chicago Police has operated an extensive network of surveillance cameras _ as well as some homeowners' doorbell cameras _ to help determine the identity of two brothers who later claimed to be paid by the actor "Empire "Jussie Smollett to organize a racist and homophobic attack. (Photo11: Teresa Crawford, AP)

Everything changed after the police arrested two Nigerian-born brothers, Abel and Ola Osundairo, of American descent, as they arrived in Chicago on February 13 after a two-week trip abroad. .

Abel, 25, was a close friend and a personal trainer from Smollett who provided the actor with the club's Ecstasy drug, prosecutors said. The two brothers had worked on the set of "Empire".

Smollett was charged this week with disorderly conduct by filing a false police report.

Prosecutors say they falsely told the police that the attackers used racist and homophobic slurs by hitting him, pouring a chemical, and shouting, "This is MAGA country," referring to the campaign's slogan. of 2016 President Trump.

He remains free of a $ 100,000 bail while he is awaiting trial.

The Osundairo brothers initially refused to give much information to the police. But while the investigators were preparing to charge them with hate crime, prosecutors said they had been discriminating.

Osundairos defense attorney Gloria Schmidt told the police that her clients would make a video statement to the police.

The brothers said Smollett paid them $ 3,500 to help them carefully choreograph the attack, police and prosecutors said. Smollett also reportedly sent a threatening letter to the Chicago studio where "Empire" was filmed a week earlier.

Police Commissioner Eddie Johnson said that Smollett was not happy with his salary for the Fox TV show and wanted to use the attack to improve his visibility.

The police said they learned the details of the alleged plot during his conversations with the Osundairos.

The brothers may never have been detected by the detectives if there were not about 55 city, business and even doorbell cameras capturing excerpts of men's movements when they were traveling. at the crime scene.

"It's thanks to these (police) cameras, to our technology investments in the city of Chicago, and to the valuable help the community brought in using these other cameras that led us to a truly timeline." solid leadership from our two people of interest, "said Commander Edward Wodnicki, who led the detective team in charge of the investigation.

The police started with a grainy video that showed only the silhouette of two men moving away from the scene shortly after the attack. Wodnicki said that it was just enough for the police to start following the Osundairo brothers "forward" since the crime scene.

Images show the brothers jumping in a cab not far from where Smollett said to have been attacked. The investigators were able to find the taxi driver, who had a security camera inside the taxi that captured the faces of the brothers.

The two brothers took a taxi for several kilometers in the northern part of the city before stopping "suddenly taxi" and walking, police said.

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At that time, Wodnicki said, investigators began to look back in time, hoping to watch the brothers in a video sequence near Smollett's home before the alleged attack.

They would find pictures of the brothers coming out of a taxi just a few steps from the crime scene shortly before the attack, Wodnicki said.

This taxi, which was also equipped with a camera, provided police with additional video footage of Osundairos, said Wodnicki. The investigators restored the brothers' movements to the point of hailing the taxi, about three kilometers from the crime scene in the Old Town district.

Security cameras or police in the old city filmed images of the Uber brothers arriving in the neighborhood shortly before getting into the taxi, said Wodnicki.

Wodnicki explained that it only took one search warrant to discover that Ola Osundairo had hailed the ride from her home from the homes of the two brothers, located in the northern part of the city.

This turned out to be "the common thread we needed to identify the two people of interest," Wodnicki said.

Thanks to the brothers' possible cooperation – as well as the phone tapes – the investigators were able to establish that Smollett and Abel Osundairo briefly spoke on the phone a little more than an hour before the attack, according to prosecutor Lanier.

Smollett told Abel Osundairo during this call that the attack should take place at 2 am, in a place already guarded near the actor's home, Lanier said. A few minutes later, Ola Osundairo caught Uber and the brothers started to go to the crime scene.

Less than 18 hours after the incident, Smollett and Abel Osundairo exchanged brief phone calls, Lanier said. The brothers then boarded a plane for their trip abroad. The next day, Smollett telephoned Abel in Turkey for almost nine minutes, Lanier said.

"The way they did it, they never thought we'd be able to find them," Johnson said. He emphasized the merit of the detectives' intense efforts to help them resolve the case.

While the Osundairos allegedly participated in the scheme, Wodniski said the police considered them to be victims that Smollett had wrongly implicated in a hate crime. Prosecutors did not comment on whether the brothers had been granted immunity for their cooperation.

Bo Dietl, a former detective from the New York Police Department, described the brothers as "foolishness" for taking part in the so-called hoax. Nevertheless, he added, it would be understandable that prosecutors do not pursue them.

"With cooperating witnesses, you sometimes have to weigh the problem of guilt," Dietl said. "In reality, you have to look at who the main person is. Sometimes you have to give a person a game to get to the main culprit. "

Johnson blasted Smollett for attempting to "take advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career."

In the days following the Smollett attack, personalities and politicians, including Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, Senators Corey Booker and Kamala Harris, expressed outrage.

In the three weeks since the police investigated the alleged hoax, Chicago has suffered at least 18 killings and dozens of shots.

Dejon Irving, 1 year old, was shot in the head on February 7 while sitting in a car with his siblings and grandmother. The boy remains in critical condition. The police think the assailants were targeting his mother.

While Dejon's shots received little national attention, Smollett's record attracted the attention of media around the world.

"I only wish that families who are victims of armed violence with weapons from this city receive so much attention, because it is the one that deserves all the attention we pay to this incident," said Johnson.

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