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GUEST: Shaun King, civil rights activist and reporter with the New York Daily News.

When 52-year old Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest in early September, the Chicago area community that he worked in, mourned a man they called a hero. Gliniewicz radioed in before his death, saying he was pursuing 3 armed suspects, two white, and one black. His death prompted a massive manhunt for the supposed suspects who never turned up. In the days that followed pro-police voices took to the airwaves and blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for creating an environment where police were being targeted more often.

Now, in a bizarre twist, Gliniewicz’s death has been ruled a suicide. The cop, who was known as GI Joe, was just months away from retirement but was apparently involved in an embezzlement scandal, having allegedly siphoned of thousands of dollars from a youth program that he ran. He worried about being exposed when an audit of the program was imminent. Authorities now say his death was an elaborately staged suicide.

Follow Shaun’s work at www.shauninthecity.com, or on Twitter @ShaunKing.