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CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago Police said they are continuing their investigation into the death of Board of Education President Michael Scott, even after the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled his death a suicide.

Scott's body was found early Monday morning near the Apparel Center at 360 N. Orleans St., near the edge of the Chicago River.

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said a .380-caliber handgun was found underneath or near Scott's body. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tracing the history of that handgun and will turn over their findings to Chicago police.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said an autopsy ruled that Scott's death was a suicide, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. But Weis said it's too early for police to draw conclusions and that detectives are looking for security camera video from nearby buildings to see if Scott's death was caught on tape.

"We know what the (medical examiner) ruled, but there's still a lot of questions that exist out there," Weis said. "We want to make sure we've done a thorough examination before we make a definitive call ourselves. It's early on, this investigation."

Sources said no suicide note has been found. And Weis said Scott's wife said it was unusual for him not to return home before midnight. Scott was last seen alive around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

In a statement, Scott's family said "The family of Michael W. Scott deeply appreciates the outpouring of support during this time of unimaginable grief. Our personal loss is also shared by many throughout Chicago, the home he loved so much. We will miss him greatly."

Chicago firefighters hosed off the scene of the death investigation near the Chicago River at Kinzie Street late Monday morning.

About 4:30 a.m. they recovered Scott's body, but according to CBS 2's sources, it was not in the water, but rather on the banks at the base of the upright bridge. Scott's Cadillac was found nearby.

Mayor Richard M. Daley, visibly stunned and shaken, said he spoke to Scott last week, but had no idea why his longtime friend would kill himself.

"I'm shocked," Daley said. "Michael was always helping people in trouble. … He always helped people."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Scott's death is a major loss for the city of Chicago.

"We are left stunned in disbelief and shock and lots of pain. People are calling crying, we can't believe it's him and we don't know what happened," Jackson said.

Jackson said he saw no indication that Scott would want to take his own life. He was with him just last week and they had been friends for more than 25 years.

Some who knew Scott insist he did not kill himself.

"I question that very much," said Wallace Davis, owner of a West Side restaurant that Scott frequented. "He was very open with me. He never once said, 'I'm having problems,' he never once said, 'I'm having financial problems.' He never once said, 'My job is stressing me out.'"

Davis knew Michael Scott for decades and called him an eternal optimist. Davis asked other customers Monday if they thought Scott committed suicide.

"No," shouted the group.

Folks who called into Cliff Kelley's radio show on WVON felt the same way.

" I haven't talked to anyone that believes that this was in fact a suicide," Kelley said.

"I believe it's foul play," one caller said Monday.

Scott served three terms on the Chicago Board of Education.

A native of the West Side's Lawndale neighborhood and a CPS graduate, Scott graduated from Fordham University, and began his professional life as an urban planner. He later became the director of community development for the Lawndale People's Planning and Action Council.

Scott served his first term on the Board of Education in 1980 and 1981, under Mayor Jane Byrne, where he helped marshal support for a school desegregation plan and headed up the committee on real estate.

Under Mayor Harold Washington, Scott served as the Director of Special Events and the Special Assistant to the Mayor in charge of communications. He also served as Special Events director under Mayor Eugene Sawyer.

In 1996, Scott was appointed President of the Chicago Park District Board. He returned to the Board of Education in 2001, when Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed him as president. He worked with now-U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to raise test scores and attendance rates, his CPS biography says.

Scott moved on to become National Board of the Directors of the YMCA in 2006, and served on the Board of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in 2007. Mayor Daley named Scott to the Board of Directors for the Regional Transportation Authority in 2008.

Scott had recently been under scrutiny for questionable dealings at the Board of Education and in connection with the city's failed bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

He was subpoenaed last summer by a federal grand jury investigating how students are chosen for admission to elite public schools. The probe was to determine whether some students were being "clouted" in.

Scott said at the time he was surprised by the subpoena and flatly denied that he has ever flexed his political muscle -- during two stints as board president – to clout any student into a "selective enrollment" school.

Scott also drew controversy while sitting on the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee. He had failed to disclose the involvement of his real estate firm, Michael Scott and Associates, in a real estate development near Douglas Park, where the Olympic cycling venue would have been located.

Chicago eventually lost out to Rio de Janiero, which will host the 2016 Summer Games.

He insisted he would not have profited from the deal and Daley said the scrutiny over those issues had nothing to do with Scott's death.

"That didn't bother him," Daley said. "I talked to him about it. It didn't bother him at all, whatsoever, that scrutiny. … No problems whatsoever, he always viewed that as not a problem."

Arrangements for a public memorial service will be announced shortly. He is survived by his wife, Diana Palomar Scott, and two adult children.

CBS 2's Susan Carlson, Dana Kozlov, Chief Correspondent Jay Levine, and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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