Illinois Officer’s Death Was A ‘Carefully Staged Suicide ’

Casey Harper

The shooting death of an Illinois police officer that launched a manhunt for the killers is now being called a “carefully staged suicide.”

Lt. Joe Gliniewicz of the Fox Lake Police Department radioed in on Sept. 1 that he was chasing three people on foot. He radioed in for backup but police found him dead. He had been shot once in the vest and once in the chest. Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander George Filenko now says the death was a “carefully staged suicide” meant to look like a homicide.

Gliniewicz was under investigation for allegedly stealing and laundering money for seven years. A police investigation found that he sent a text message saying, “If she gets ahold of the old checking account, im pretty well fucked.”

The death kicked off a manhunt with hundreds of federal and local law enforcement searching for the trio of killers. But as the investigation went on authorities say it became clear the death was a suicide and that Gliniewicz failed to fool investigators.

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