Conrad Gary attended Eastern Illinois from 2005 until 2009 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He spent more than five years in the Air Force from 2010 until 2015 and half of that time was stationed in Germany, his relatives said. He was a decorated soldier who rose to the rank of sergeant and was stationed in Montana at the end of his service, according to a military spokesman. Gary decided to return to Chicago so he could be closer to his family and then joined the Chicago Police Department in March 2017, his brother and police sources said.