‘G.I. Joe’ Suicide: Anonymous Sources Claim Lake County Officer Was Killed By Own Gunshot

UPDATED: Nov. 4, 12:30 p.m. EST -- The death of Fox Lake, Illinois, police officer Joe Gliniewicz in September was a suicide, carefully staged after he laundered money from a police department program to mentor children who wanted to go into law enforcement, authorities in Illinois confirmed Wednesday, CNN reported. Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander George Filenko said Gliniewicz was under stress as a result of the investigations into this criminal acts.

“Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," Filenko said according to the Daily Beast. “Personally this is my first time as a police officer that I’m ashamed by the actions of a member of law enforcement.”

Gliniewicz tried to make his suicide look like a homicide, Filenko said. Gliniewicz had experience creating mock crime scenes to training purposes. The 52-year-old, who died at the beginning of September, had been stealing money for at least seven years from the program he was a leader in, CNN reported.

Original story:

The death of Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz will be declared as a suicide. The northern Illinois officer’s shooting death earlier in September led to a huge manhunt.

An official, not authorized to give details to media, spoke to The Associate Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the Lake County Sheriff's Office is going to declare “conclusive results” of the investigation at a press conference Wednesday.

It was earlier announced in October that the 52-year-old officer had been shot with his own gun. Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko said Gliniewicz had been shot by two rounds, one on his ballistic vest and the other on his upper chest.

According to the investigation, the Fox Lake officer was killed by a gunshot wound inflicted by himself. The conclusion of the investigation has been reported by other media outlets as well. However, everyone cited anonymous sources while reporting.

The Chicago Tribune cited “multiple law enforcement sources” who said it was likely the Sheriff’s Office would announce Wednesday that the officer had taken his own life.

Gliniewicz, affectionately called as "G.I. Joe," was a U.S. army veteran. He reported over radio that he was chasing three suspicious men. That was the last time he made any contact, and later his body was found near his squad car.

According to GPS data, Gliniewicz was near the crime scene for around 20 minutes before radioing the suspicious activity.

Gliniewicz has four children. His son D.J. Gliniewicz, along with the rest of the family, dismissed the possibility of suicide. He said his father was quite excited about his post-retirement plans.