Hunt for Cop Killers in Chicago Suburb Continues as Rhetoric and Attacks on Law Enforcement Officers Intensifies
Law enforcement officers have expanded the search for three suspects they believe killed a veteran police officer northeast of Chicago.
Charles Jospeh Gliniewicz, a married father of three boys, had been active in law enforcement for 32 years before being gunned down. The suspected murder occurred in Fox Lake, Illinois, usually described as a safe community 55 miles northeast of downtown Chicago.
Gliniewicz, a lieutenant in the Fox Lake Police Department, was nicknamed GI Joe, according to the city's mayor.
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"Today, not only did Fox Lake lose a family member — I lost a really dear friend," Mayor Donny Schmit said during a news conference on Tuesday.
Reports have focused on the vague descriptions of three alleged suspects who've been described as "two white men and one black man." Gliniewicz was purportedly in a foot pursuit of suspicious activity when he was gunned down. He called for backup around 8 a.m. before he was killed at the scene. Law enforcement officials across northeast Illinois have said they will not rest until the three suspects are apprehended.
Last week, a Harris County deputy named Darren Goforth was shot and killed in Cypress, Texas, while pumping gas. Shannon Miles, a 30-year-old man from Texas, has been charged in Goforth's murder. The Harris Country deputy was reportedly shot 15 times in the back and head as the suspect allegedly emptied his clip into the officer.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said "our assumption is he was a target because he wore a uniform." Hickman called the death "unprovoked and cowardly."
"We've heard 'black lives matter.' All lives matter. Well, cops' lives matter too," Hickman declared Saturday. "Why don't we just drop the qualifier and say lives matter ..."
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson also lashed out at those in opposition to law enforcement.
"It is time for the silent majority in this country to support law enforcement," said Anderson. "There are a few bad apples in every profession — that does not mean that there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement.
"What happened last night is an assault on the very fabric of society, it is not anything that we can tolerate …and it's to condemn this atrocious act," she added.
In a report on Monday by CBS News, supporters of the slain deputy and law enforcement marched and "carried banners that said 'love they neighbor' and sang Gospel music."
A Wednesday USA Today column in defense of law enforcement was critical of some of the rhetoric against the police, citing recent examples in New York and Minnesota where protestors chanted for dead cops.
Eighty-five officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2015. Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker addressed the murders Wednesday saying anti-police rhetoric has increased during the Obama administration.
"This isn't the America I grew up in or that I want my children to grow up in. When the very people responsible for keeping us safe are targeted because they are law enforcement officials, we have a serious problem," declared Walker.
"In the last six years under President Obama, we've seen a rise in anti-police rhetoric. Instead of hope and change, we've seen racial tensions worsen and a tendency to use law enforcement as a scapegoat. This kind of attitude has created a culture in which we all too often see demonstrations and chants where people describe police as 'pigs' and call for them to be 'fried like bacon.' This inflammatory and disgusting rhetoric has real consequences for the safety of officers who put their lives on the line for us and hampers their ability to serve the communities that need their help," Walker asserted.
