Empire actor Bryshere Gray faces domestic violence charges after ‘strangling his wife until she passed out and then barricading himself in his home overnight when police arrived to investigate’
- Bryshere Gray was arrested Monday after an overnight standoff with police
- He barricaded himself in his home after police arrived to speak with him
- His wife had told police earlier in the night that he had assaulted her for hours
- She claimed Gray had strangled her until she temporarily passed out
- She flagged down a passerby at a gas station, who called police for her
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 7am at his home in Goodyear, Arizona, where he had barricaded himself overnight.
The incident began at about 10.15pm 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. He is pictured here in his mugshot (left) and booking photo (right)
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 (right) played Hakeem Lyon in the Fox series Empire. He is pictured with cast mate Jussie Smollett (left), who faces legal charges of his own related to an alleged attack in Chicago
Gray (pictured in 2018, left, and 2017, right) was arrested after his wife told police he had been assaulting her for hours and had strangled her until she lost consciousness temporarily
Gray barricaded himself inside his home (pictured) when police arrived to talk to him. He surrendered himself to police the next morning at 7am and was arrested
Upon arriving at their home later, 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 7am 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.
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