Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges following a standoff with police at his Arizona home.
Gray, who played Hakeem Lyon on the Fox TV series, was taken into custody on Monday at about 7 am at his home in Goodyear, Arizona, where he had barricaded himself overnight.
The incident began at about 10.15 pm when police were called to a Circle K gas station in Goodyear to help a woman. Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges Monday morning
The woman had flagged down a passerby at another gas station, stating that ‘she had been assaulted at her Goodyear home for the last several hours by her husband,’ according to the police report obtained by Fox 10.
The passerby then drove the woman – who was not named – to the Circle K and called 911, at which point the woman identified Gray as her husband.
Police said the woman had multiple visible injuries on her body and that she had said Gray had strangled her at one point, leading to her temporarily losing consciousness.
The woman was taken to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released. Gray was arrested after his wife told police he had been assaulting her for hours and had strangled her until she lost consciousness temporarily. Upon arriving at their home later, the police said that Gray refused to exit the property and barricaded himself inside.
Between the barricade situation and the possible felony domestic violence charge, police called Goodyear SWAT and Crisis Negotiations to the scene, AZ Family reported.
Gray barricaded himself inside the house overnight, eventually surrendering himself to authorities without incident at about 7 am Monday.
Gray was then arrested and booked into jail. He was taken into custody and booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Gray now faces charges including assault (domestic violence), aggravated assault (strangulation), and disorderly conduct. Following her hospital discharge, Gray’s wife is being assisted by Goodyear detectives and a victim advocate, AZ Family reported. Gray isn’t the only Empire cast member-facing legal troubles now. Co-star Jussie Smollett has been charged with multiple felonies related to allegedly faking being the victim of a hate crime while living in Chicago in February 2019.
Smollett filed a police report claiming that he had been attacked by two men while walking on the street late at night, who used both racist and homophobic slurs while assaulting him. He then said that they tied a rope around his neck and splashed bleach on him.
Following an investigation, police said that the Smollett’s attackers were actually two Nigerian brothers that the actor had paid to attack him in an effort to boost his profile and TV series salary.
In February 2020, a grand jury indicted Smollett on six felony counts of disorderly conduct related to four false reports that he gave to police about the alleged attack.
The city of Chicago is also suing Smollett for $130,000 in overtime that was paid to the officers who investigated the supposed attack.
Smollett has claimed he’s innocent of the charges and sued Chicago for malicious prosecution in the fall of 2019.
