Fox Lake Police Officer's Death To Be Declared A Suicide: Reports

By Marielle Shaw in News on Nov 4, 2015 2:57AM

Lake County authorities are expected to rule the mysterious shooting death of a suburban police officer, which launched an intensive homicide investigation and manhunt two months ago, a suicide, according to new reports.

After over a month of little new information about the case, the Lake County Sheriff's office is set to hold a press conference Wednesday to release new "significant findings" in the investigation. Some local news outlets are already reporting that authorities plan to announce that north suburban police officer Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz likely took his own life.

Gliniewicz was found dead from two gunshots wounds from his own weapon while he was working, shortly after he radioed that he was in foot pursuit of three suspects.

The investigation into the Sept. 1 shooting death has been lengthy, expensive and complex, with everything from false leads to leaked statements muddying the waters. Authorities were treating the case as a homicide but said they had not ruled out the possibility of an elaborately-staged suicide.

Since the news from unnamed sources broke Tuesday evening, the sheriff's office has released the following statement urging the media to wait until the Wednesday morning press conference before reporting:

"We will have no comment on that or other reports until the news conference at 10:00AM tomorrow. There will be conclusive results of the investigation announced tomorrow. We respectfully urge all members of the media to refrain from reporting as fact; rumors, innuendo, hearsay, and speculation."