Jussie Smollett's neighbor saw suspicious men with rope near apartment

Source: Gary Gershoff / Getty

Neighbor Witnessed Suspicious Man Outside Jussie Smollett Apartment

The racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett outside his Chicago apartment building is still being fleshed out and today we have new details that will hopefully lead to an arrest.

According to TMZ, Jussie’s neighbor says she witnessed a man who looked like a “redneck” hanging out near the building entrance an hour and a half prior to the incident. The unidentified woman says in VERY specific detail exactly who she saw, what they were wearing, and what they were doing.

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 neighbor also says that there was a rope or clothesline made from white and blue material hanging from underneath the man’s sweatshirt. This man was said to be staring intently on another man near the front door of the building.

When the witness neighbor awoke to go to the gym around 4am, she saw the security and was told that Jussie had been attacked. She relayed what she had seen and was told to call detectives.

Chicago PD still has not found footage of the attack but they are investigating all leads. Hopefully this neighbor’s account helps in that effort.