Chandler officer remembers Illinois lieutenant killed on duty

The manhunt continues for the suspects who shot and killed a police lieutenant north of Chicago earlier this week.

Lieutenant Gliniewicz was involved with his department's police explorer program and brought his group to compete in Arizona explorer competitions.

FOX 10 spoke with a Chandler Police Officer, who knew Gliniewicz and says he's still in shock over what happened.

"I still can't believe that he was killed," said Officer John Somerville.

Somerville remembers Lt. Gliniwicz, otherwise known as "Joe."

"He was very much committed to his wife, to his kids, and his extended kids he had in his explorer program," said Somerville.

Somerville works with Chandler Police Department's Explorers; it helps young people learn about careers in the police department. He first met Gliniwicz 7-years-ago.

"Lt. Joe would bring his explorer program out for pretty much as many years as I can remember, they've very much been a staple at our competition every year," he said.

Somerville says kids in the program with Gliniewicz did very well in competition. He also says he was shocked to hear about the lieutenant's death.

"Everytime I hear about an officer being killed, it makes you kind of check your own mortality a little bit, makes you a little bit more aware of what you're doing, especially when it is somebody close to home," said Somerville.

"The loss of Joe is a huge loss for their community, and an enormous loss for law enforcement, in general," he said.

Gliniewicz was reportedly close to retiring, having served 30 years on the force.