Wauconda man killed in northwestern Illinois shooting

Visitation and a funeral will be held Sunday for a Wauconda man fatally shot over the weekend in northwestern Illinois.

Michael C. Gul, 29, was killed late Saturday in Polo, which is about 40 miles southwest of Rockford, authorities said.

The bodies of Gul and the suspected gunman — 19-year-old Joshua M. Conway — were found inside a house there, according to a news release from the Ogle County sheriff’s office. Conway had a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

Polo police and sheriff’s deputies had gone to the home after receiving a report of a shooting and a woman being held at gunpoint. The woman being held and others were able to escape the home unharmed, the sheriff’s office reported.

Autopsies were performed Monday. Details weren’t available because the investigation is ongoing.

Gul had been a part-time Buffalo Grove Park District employee since 2023 and was set to be a summer camp supervisor this season, a spokesperson confirmed. The district offered counseling for employees who knew Gul, the spokesman said.

Gul previously worked part-time for the Des Plaines Park District.

According to a GoFundMe online fundraiser set up for Gul’s family, his survivors include a wife and two young children.

Fundraiser organizer Rebecca Ellison called Gul’s death “a cruel and senseless act of violence.”

“While we don’t have all the details, we know Michael did not deserve to be taken from his family at just 29 years old,” Ellison wrote on the fundraiser’s homepage.

Visitation is scheduled to run from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Kristan Funeral Home, 219 W. Maple Ave., Mundelein. A service is planned for 4 p.m. at the funeral home.

· Shaw Local News Network contributed to this report.