Fox Lake police reports shed light on moments after Lt. Gliniewicz's death
FOX LAKE, Ill. (WLS) -- There is new insight into the moments immediately following that staged suicide of Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz.
READ: Fox Lake police reports
Police reports just obtained by ABC7 reveal new details about what investigators encountered when they responded to the call "officer down".
In the final moments of Lt. Gliniewicz's life, officers were converging on his position in response to his call that he was chasing three suspicious men.
Newly-released documents reveal two responding officers were on opposite sides of the field - essentially surrounding him - and close enough to hear the fatal gunshot. No one was seen leaving the field.
When officers discovered him face down, one observed that Lt. Gliniewicz's hand was "empty in a position that would lead to believe he was possibly holding a gun." His service weapon was later found in thick brush, a couple feet from his body. All were early clues the shooting may have been a suicide.
"If they had, almost immediately, information that it was a probable suicide and kept it from the people of Fox Lake for so long, I think there's going to be liability with respect to the government," said Prof. Richard Kling, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
With investigators pursuing the case as a homicide for weeks, the documents reveal some of the tips that came from the public - from the serious to the sensational.
One tipster suggesting Gliniewicz's wife had motive to kill him based on racy photos on her MySpace page.
One anonymous caller said he'd heard Mayor Donny Schmit instructed Gliniewicz the night before his death to take a squad car home that had no video camera installed.
A village spokesperson adamantly denied that claim Thursday night.
"You're going to have legitimate people who call in with legitimate concerns, and you're going to have goofs who call in with concerns that aren't so legitimate," Kling said.
The first lawsuit related to the Gliniewicz case will be filed in federal court on Friday. Among those named in the suit are Mayor Schmit, Former Police Chief Michael Behan, and the estate of Joe Gliniewicz.
