2 Brothers Arrested in Apparent Hate Attack on 'Empire' Star Jussie Smollett

Two brothers have been arrested in the Jan. 29 apparenthate attackonEmpirestarJussie Smollett, according to Chicago police.

A spokeswoman tells PEOPLE the suspects were arrested Wednesday evening but have not yet been charged. Because they have not been charged, police are withholding identifying information about them.

On Thursday, Chicago Police Department Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter that “detectives have identified the persons of interest in the area of the alleged attack” who were being questioned but were “not yet suspects” in the attack.

The police spokeswoman says the suspects are the same people as those previously identified as persons of interest.

On Thursday, ABC7 Chicago’s Rob Elgas, citing unnamed sources, wrote on Twitter that the two persons of interest allegedly conspired with the actor to stage the incident “allegedly because his character was being written out of the show Empire.”

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A Thursday statement from 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment responding to Elgas’ claim reads, “The idea that Jussie Smollett has been, or would be, written off ofEmpireis patently ridiculous.” It adds, “He remains a core player on this very successful series and we continue to stand behind him.”

A representative for Smollett has yet to respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Smollett: ‘I Just Want Them to Find Them’

At around 2 a.m. in Chicago on Jan. 29, Smollett went to a doctor after he said he was the victim of anapparent hate crime.

The Chicago Police Department previously confirmed in a statement that a member of the hit Fox show was involved in a “racially-charged assault and battery.”

Early Thursday morning, Smollett appeared onGood Morning Americafor hisfirst in-depth, televised interviewsince the incident occurred.

Afterdetailing what occurredand hitting back at critics who have questioned the accuracy of his account, Smollett got emotional, confessing his fears that his assailants won’t be found.

The Chicago Police Department had confirmed that Smollett, who is gay, was involved in a “racially-charged assault and battery.”

“I want that [surveillance] video found so badly for four reasons,” Smollett said in the interview. “Number one, I want them to find the people that did it. Number two, I want them to stop being able to say ‘alleged attack.’ Number three, I want them to see that I fought back. And I want a little gay boy who might watch this to see that I fought back. It does not take anything away from people who are not able to do that, but I fought back. They ran off, I didn’t.”

“Learn to fight. Learn to be a fighter,” he continued, addressing young gay men. “I am not advocating violence at all, so let’s be clear about that. If you’re going to die, fight until you do. If you don’t fight, you have no chance. I have fought for love. I’m an advocate. I respect too much the people — who I am now, one of those people — who have been attacked in any way.”

After being asked if one can heal if their attackers are never found, Smollett broke down.

“I don’t know. Let’s just hope that they are, you know what I’m saying? Let’s not go there yet,” he said, crying.

“I was talking to a friend and I said, ‘I just want them to find them.’ And she said, ‘Sweetie, they’re not going to find them,’ ” he said. “That just made me so angry. So I’m just going to be left here like this? I’m just going to be left here? They get to go free, go about their life, and possibly attack someone else. And I’m here left with the aftermath? That’s not cool to me. That’s not okay.”

“I understand how difficult it will be to find them but we’ve got to,” he insisted. “I still want to believe, with everything that happened, that there’s something called justice.”

source: people.com