in the lgbt community about smollett putting this on, making this up, if it turns out to be true. this is the quickest turn we ve seen potential victim become a potential criminal. and i look at so many folks that have come out as advocates that are part of the community that came out to support jussie smollett that were appalled by what potentially happened to him or what he claimed happened to him. it s heartbreaking. a lot of the black lgbt, the black community is hurt because if jussie smollett did commit this crime, he not only sort of victimized the police and a lot of other folks but also victimized the queer community that supported him for so long. jonathan? this is sad on so many levels. when i was here last week talking about this. we were talking about this. if it does turn out to be true that this is indeed a hoax,
interviewed over 100 individuals in a canvass of the area and a follow-up canvass as our investigation expanded. we located approximately 35 of our chicago police pod cameras in the area and in the areas that we determined these two persons of interest fled. we additionally found over 20 private sector cameras, and i got to say that that was super useful in this investigation. the city came together to investigate and help the police with this crime. it was because of these pod cameras, our investment into technology in the city of chicago, and the great assistance from the community in giving us those other cameras that led us to a really solid timeline of where our two persons of interest went.
political statements at him and beat him. put a noose around his neck and threw bleach on him and then fled from the area. we learned at the time that jussie was not hurt, other than scratches on his face, maybe some bruising but no broken ribs or serious injuries. so we started a full-scale investigation into this hate crime, a very serious crime anywhere. we quickly found two persons of interest on video that we believed were the likely offenders in this case. we initially put out a seeking to identify, and we got this out in a community alert. we then started searching the area for video cameras and witnesses that could help us with our investigation. during that time frame, we
going forward. there was a lot of speculation perhaps maybe there would be some sort of plea deal. we ll have to wait and see. right now a hearing at 2:30 scheduled to set bond. hallie? we ve been looking ron mot, i m going to ask you to stand by as you ve been looking at the new booking photo of smollett. i want to bring in danny savalos. that press conference is set to begin. right before a major news conference like this, everybody is getting their ducks in a row before what is going to be a very closely watched. it s been a highly anticipated news conference now from the chicago police. danny, a couple of legal questions. talk through why you think that they went for a felony charge and not the misdemeanor? because it fits within the statute. smollett is charged with disorderly conduct which traditionally we think of as a lower level crime. a summary offense. in illinois, disorderly conduct is a broadly defined crime. it includes playing your music
federal crimes will essentially dwarf the state crimes currently lodged against smollett because the u.s. government takes deadly seriously messing around with the u.s. mail. there s even a federal hoax crime which would apply here because hoaxes, even though they are fake and there s no actual threat because it was made up, hoaxes cause real damage to society. not only by wasting law enforcement and judicial resources, but by also terrorizing the community to think that there is a threat to their safety when, in fact, there wasn t, and it was completely made up. so if smollett had any part in mailing that letter that s been talked about in the news, then his real concern for his defense team is absolutely the possible federal charges that could follow. we ve been looking on the left side of your screen there at the scene with chicago police. we expect that news conference to begin any second. it looks as though they ll walk