'We're Not Going to Stop' Hunt For Cop Killers, Says Task Force Chief

With 100 investigators expanding their search for three fugitive cop killers in a small northern Illinois town, the leader of a major crime task force vowed to keep up the effort.

“We’re not going to set a timeline on this,” George Filenko, the commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said on the second day of the massive manhunt in Fox Lake.

“We’re not going to stop,” Filenko said.

Filenko said his team has been flooded with tips from as far away as Australia — and investigators are checking out every lead on the murder of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52.

“Every time we get a lead, we move forward,” Filenko said. “Even if that lead is discounted, we’ve made progress.”

Gliniewicz, an Army sergeant and father of four, was shot to death Tuesday morning just as he was beginning his shift. Gliniewicz was the first Fox Lake police officer ever killed in the line of duty, Filenko said.

About 400 officers from numerous departments launched an intensive search effort after two of Gliniewicz’s fellow officers found his body shortly after 8 a.m. The operation was focused on a two-mile-square area and ended about 10:30 p.m., after about 14 hours.

While the manpower was reduced Wednesday, the search has been expanded, with investigators canvassing Fox Lake’s subdivisions. Filenko said officers were gathering video from surveillance cameras operated by both businesses and homeowners.

So far, the only description police have of the killers is that they are male, two are white and one is black. Gliniewicz radioed in to dispatchers that he found them suspicious and that he was going to confront them.

Filenko said the area where Gliniewicz spotted the men is remote, with nothing but open fields and abandoned buildings.

“It would be fundamental police procedure to at least stop and ask them why they’re there,” he said.

Filenko declined to say if Gliniewicz was killed with his own pistol. He also would not say whether or not the weapon has been recovered.

Read More on Patch:

• Video: Fox Lake Man Watched Aftermath of Cop’s Murder Unfold
• Fox Lake Mourns Slain Police Officer
• Vigil Scheduled This Evening in Fox Lake as Community Mourns Fallen Police Officer
• UPDATE: Police Broaden Search Efforts as Manhunt Continues
• Manhunt Under Way After Veteran Police Officer Shot, Killed