Police officers salute as the coffin of slain Fox Lake police officer Lt. Joe Gliniewicz as it is brought to Antioch Community High School for his visitation and funeral service on September 7, 2015 in Fox Lake, Illinois(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

Hundreds of mourners lined up at an Illinois high school Monday to pay their respects to a police officer whose mysterious shooting death shocked a quiet Chicago suburb and the nation.

Services for Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, 52, were being held at Antioch Community High School, a few miles from Fox Lake and the school from which Gliniewicz graduated in 1981.

Gliniewicz had been an officer for more than 30 years and was within weeks of retirement when he was found, shot to death, in a desolate, industrial section of Fox Lake on Sept. 1. Gliniewicz had just radioed dispatchers that he had spotted suspicious men — describing them only as two white men and a black man — before his radio cut out.

A feverish manhunt has failed to result in any arrests or identify the mysterious men. Authorities have viewed surveillance video from several homes and businesses and say they hope to develop clues that will lead them to the suspects.

Gliniewicz, nicknamed "G.I. Joe," was the father of four boys. Thousands of mourners were expected Monday, including hundreds of officers from across the nation. The funeral procession will roll through Antioch and Fox Lake, past the many schools Gliniewicz and his four sons attended and where he often worked with the police Explorers program. The program gives young people with an interest in law enforcement a up-close experience.

“He lived here,” Antioch resident Scott Pierce told WGN-TV. “His kids went to school here. He worked in Fox Lake but he was part of our community, too. I think it's important for Antioch to show how important he was and how important our police officers are.”

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