The Latest: Chicago police: "Persons of interest" sought

CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on the Chicago police investigation after "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett said he was attacked. (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

A Chicago police spokesman says police will release images of people who were in the area the night "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett says he was attacked.

Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says pictures of the "persons of interest" will be released Wednesday evening. Earlier, authorities said they were expanding the search to get different angles of the attack.ˆ 

Smollett, who is black and gay and who plays the gay character Jamal Lyon on the hit Fox television show, said the men beat him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an "unknown chemical substance" on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing.

Guglielmi says detectives, who are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime, have looked at hundreds of hours of surveillance video from buildings in the area.

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10 a.m.

Chicago police say they've reviewed hundreds of hours of footage from downtown surveillance cameras but haven't found footage yet of the attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett.

The department said in a news release late Tuesday that detectives reviewed footage from privately-owned cameras near where Smollett says he was attacked and will broaden their search by reviewing footage from traffic cameras and public bus cameras.

Smollett told police he was walking downtown near the Chicago River at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday when two masked men hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him, beat him, threw an "unknown substance" on him and put a rope around his neck.

The 36-year-old actor, who is black and gay and plays the gay character Jamal Lyon on the Fox television show, took himself to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment.

"Empire" is shot in Chicago and is currently in production.