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Coroner: Fox Lake officer died of single gunshot wound

September 9, 2015 7:20 pm

Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz died of a single devastating gunshot wound, Lake County Coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd said Wednesday.

Police have declined to discuss autopsy findings, and Rudd did not say where on the body the 52-year-old officer was wounded the morning of Sept. 1. Rudd also did not say if the officer suffered any other wounds.

That morning, Gliniewicz had radioed in to say he was going to pursue three men, and a short time later backup officers found him shot to death in a remote, marshy area of the semi-rural community.

His death prompted a large-scale manhunt involving hundreds of officers, helicopters and police dogs, and federal authorities were said to be analyzing surveillance video taken from the area that included images of three men. Tuesday, law enforcement officials said they had found the three men shown in the video and had ruled them out as suspects.

George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, said Tuesday that police had not received a written autopsy report. Filenko said that police were investigating the case as a homicide, but that they were continuing to analyze the evidence and would not "discount a single thing."

But the coroner said Wednesday he can't finish the autopsy report until he receives further information from the police investigation.

"As it stands now, I cannot give a manner of death because I don't know what happened in terms of where did this bullet come from," Rudd said. "Right now, all unnatural deaths are up for suggestion. That means homicide, suicide, accident, undetermined."

Police have said they are withholding certain details about the case so as not to compromise the investigation.

Detective Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County sheriff's office, said Wednesday that police were still waiting for the results of ballistics tests and other forensic analysis.

"There's still a lot of outstanding information," he said. "The investigation is still very active."

Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a 30-year veteran of the Fox Lake Police Department, was shot and killed Sept. 1, 2015. Three suspects are being sought in a massive Lake County manhunt.

Authorities have not said whether they think Gliniewicz was killed with his own gun. But they did confirm that his gun was found near his body.

Also Wednesday, the village released a statement saying that, at the time of Gliniewicz's death, the village had been in the process of conducting an "inventory review" of Police Department procedures and equipment that was prompted by former Chief Michael Behan's retirement Aug. 28. Gliniewicz had "participated in this process," the statement said.

Behan had announced his retirement shortly after he was placed on leave as part of an internal investigation into how police handled a December 2014 arrest. Behan said this week that he chose to leave because it was time and that no one forced him out.

Wednesday's statement from the village said the "clean slate" review is "standard and considered a best practice whenever there is a change in leadership at a law enforcement agency." After the officer's death, the village "immediately made available to the Lake County Major Crime Task Force all the materials based on this review and other pertinent information in order to assist investigators."

When asked Tuesday if police were exploring any possible connection between Gliniewicz's death and the internal investigation stemming from the December incident, Filenko said, "We haven't ruled out anything."

Regarding the investigation into the officer's death, Filenko said Tuesday that officers have pursued some 185 leads but haven't found any other video that is "relevant to the investigation."

He also said DNA has been found at the scene of Gliniewicz's death that does not belong to the lieutenant. Authorities are checking to see whether they can match that DNA with profiles in law enforcement databases or those taken from other people they've interviewed during the investigation.

Filenko did not specify where the DNA was found, but he said it "raises a red flag" and is "relevant."

Behan and Fox Lake Mayor Donny Schmit also offered some clarity about whether Gliniewicz had been planning to retire at the time he was killed. Both the former chief and the mayor said Gliniewicz had talked about retiring soon but had not submitted any formal paperwork to that effect. Schmit said the officer had discussed the prospect of retiring at the end of the year but had also considered moving that up to the end of September.

Behan said Gliniewicz had also been a recent candidate for the job of police chief in Antioch, the officer's hometown. Antioch officials were not available to confirm that Wednesday. The village announced the hiring of a new chief, Steve Huffman, in August.

Gliniewicz was laid to rest Monday following a funeral attended by Gov. Bruce Rauner and thousands of officers from across the country. People lined the streets of Fox Lake and Antioch to watch a procession of police cars accompany the officer's remains to his gravesite.

News-Sun reporter Lauren Zumbach and freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed.

dhinkel@tribpub.com
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