The coffin of slain Fox Lake police officer Lt. Joe Gliniewicz arrives at Antioch Community High School for his visitation and funeral service on September 7, 2015 in Fox Lake, Illinois(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
Hundreds of police officers from across the USA were among a throng of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>mourners who packed an<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Illinois high school auditorium<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Monday to pay their respects to an<span style="color: Red;">*</span>officer whose mysterious shooting death<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shocked a quiet Chicago suburb and the nation.
Services for Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Gliniewicz, 52, were being held at Antioch Community High School, the school just a few miles from Fox Lake<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from which Gliniewicz graduated in 1981. Gov. Bruce Rauner was among thousands who paid their respects at a viewing that preceded the service.
Gliniewicz had been an officer for more than<span style="color: Red;">*</span>30 years and was within weeks of retirement when he was found, shot to death, in a desolate, industrial section<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of Fox Lake on Sept. 1. Gliniewicz had just radioed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dispatchers that he had spotted suspicious men — describing them only as two white men and a black man — before his radio cut out.
A feverish manhunt has failed to result in any arrests or identify the mysterious men.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Authorities have viewed surveillance video from several homes and businesses and say they hope to develop clues that will lead them to the suspects.
Gliniewicz, nicknamed "G.I. Joe," was the father of four boys. The funeral procession will roll through Antioch and Fox Lake, past the many schools Gliniewicz and his four sons attended and where he often worked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with the police Explorers program. The program gives young people with an interest in law enforcement a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>up-close experience.
"He was a good man," mourner Olaf Cook told the local
Daily Herald<span style="color: Red;">*</span>after leaving the viewing.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I can't thank him enough for all he's done."
"He will forever be a hero in our hearts," Michele Torkilsen told the paper.
Scott Pierce was among the many volunteers placing ribbons on trees along the funeral procession route.
“He lived here,” Pierce told
WGN-TV. “His kids went to school here. He worked in Fox Lake but he was part of our community, too. I think it's important for Antioch to show how important he was and how important our police officers are.”
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