US News After massive manhunt, Illinois cop’s death will be declared a suicide A northern Illinois police officer, whose death sparked a citywide search for clues, died of an apparent suicide, an official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Illinois has called a Wednesday news conference to announce “conclusive results” of the investigation. Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a U.S. Army veteran affectionately known as “G.I. Joe,” radioed on Sept. 1 that he was chasing three suspicious men on foot. Backup officers later found his body 50 yards from his squad car. Gliniewicz was shot twice with his weapon. One shot was in the right side of the front of the officer’s protective vest and was severe enough to incapacitate him; the other shot, believed to have caused the fatal wound, struck him in the upper left chest, authorities said. More than 100 investigators stayed on the case for weeks, though questions arose in mid-September and investigators began to concede that they could not rule out suicide or an accident. Authorities said in October that Gliniewicz, 52, was shot with his own weapon, and many law enforcement sources have said that the sheriff’s office will announce the conclusion of the investigation.
