The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Thursday at about 12:50 p.m. conducted a press conference updating the case of the Fox Lake police officer Lt. Joe Gliniewicz homicide. At the podium were Lake County Sheriff’s Det. Chris Covelli and Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko,
Covelli provided details of the false report of “suspects sighted” Wednesday night. Filenko provided new information about a residential security video retrieved and a gun recovered.
In a question and answer session, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko Cmdr. Filenko released information that a private citizen turned in some home video surveillance images which the citizen said shows three people in view. At the time of the press conference Thursday afternoon, the police had retrieved the video, but had not yet had the time or technology to review the images. The video has been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security for image enhancement.
What the citizen told police he saw on the video, is consistent with the three suspects they are seeking, according to a response by Filenko. Also, Filenko would only answer that the home video security system was from a residence in the area, and that the hard drive was retrieved “as late as last night.” He said he expected there might be results available from the video tonight.
Filenko would not answer a question about footprints, or whether any footprints showed a direction of travel of the suspects.
Filenko answered a question about the immediate area of the crime scene and replied that there has been a history of complaints near the crime scene ranging from vandalism to squatters living in the structures that are nearby. Filenko was not aware of any previous arrests near the crime scene.
Filenko replied that he did not know the exact reason Gliniewicz was near the old cement plant, but he knew from reports of fellow police officers that Gliniewicz was an extremely diligent police officer that would normally check on problem areas.
In the question and answer session, Filenko confirmed that police have recovered Gliniewicz’s gun, but would not reveal whether it was the gun used in the shooting, and would not reveal whether the gun was found at the scene.
Filenko also would not answer whether Gliniewicz’s gun had been fired.
Filenko would not confirm that Gliniewicz’s gun, pepper spray and radio were taken. He did reply that — as far as he knows — all the items that Gliniewicz would have had on his body have been recovered.
In response to a question on whether the suspects are armed, Filenko replied that suspects that murder a police officer are extremely dangerous, but he would not confirm whether he thought they were armed.
Police say new surveillance video may be a significant break in the search for three suspects in the killing of an Illinois police officer. CNN’s Rosa Flores reports.
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