UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. (CBS) ―
A neatly manicured lawn in University Park is believed to be the root cause of a fatal shooting.
Charles Clements, 69, is charged with first and second-degree murder in Sunday night's fatal shooting of 23-year-old Joshua Funches.
Cook County prosecutors said that Clements shot and killed his neighbor because Funches' dog urinated on it Sunday night when the victim was out walking his fox terrier.
Patricia Funches said this Mothers' Day was a holiday to forget.
"He took my baby on Mother's Day. How cruel can you be?" she told CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago. "I'm so broken. I'm so broken."
Broken because her son was murdered, she says, simply because his puppy urinated on Clements' meticulously kept lawn.
"It's so hard to accept that that's why his life was taken," Patricia Funches said.
Neighbors also were stunned by the shooting.
"I was thinking that was so petty," said Kwesi Sallis, a friend of the victim. "You're a grown man. He's a young man, you know what I'm saying? It's just some grass, you know? You can grow the grass back."
Police said words were exchanged after the incident, which caused things to escalate. Joshua Funches reportedly started to walk back towards his home, which is right down the block, when Clements allegedly came up from behind and gunned him down just a couple of houses away.
According to University Park police Sgt. Dan Murphy., officers discovered Funches bleeding on the ground in front of a vacant home on the block when responding to a call about shots fired in the neighborhood.
Witnesses to the shooting pointed officers to Clements' home, where officers recovered a .45-caliber handgun they believe Clements used, Murphy said.
Clements is a former marine and a retired CTA bus driver. Neighbors say he had won beautification awards for his lawn and was obsessed with it.
A sign on Clements' mailbox urges the postman to not walk across the lawn. Still, longtime neighbors can't fathom that Clement's passion for landscaping led to violence.
"You couldn't imagine something like this happening, so I don't know just, whether he snapped or was it provoked or maybe there is something we don't know about," said neighbor Lloyd Allison.
"A long time ago I walked on the grass," said neighbor Lishawn Byers. "I was on the cell phone and I didn't know I stepped on the grass and he came out and said, 'watch it.' And I just said, 'I live right across the street. I've been living here. My bad, sir.' You know? That's just how he is about his grass."
But Byers said even with Clements' meticulous habits, he never thought Clements would pull a gun.
"I never thought it, especially out here, I never thought nothing like this would happen," said Byers.
Patricia Funches said the facts are clear; Clements' green thumb led him to kill her son.
"He wanted to send a message. Now I want the law to send a message. That's what I need," she said.
She addressed her son's accused killer directly on Wednesday.
"I don't hate him, but he took something very special away from me that can never, ever be replaced. His family can go and visit him in prison, but I have to go to the cemetery to see my son," she said.
And then there's the image of the last time she saw her son alive. It was in the ambulance as he writhed in agony with a bullet in his stomach.
"He was just going back and forth," she said. "I said 'Joshua call on Jesus to help you, because I can't help you, but call on Jesus.' And he said 'Jesus, Jesus.' Those were the last two words I heard my son say."
Joshua Funches was the father of two, with another child on the way. His mother said he was planning to marry his pregnant fiancée in weeks.
He suffered a single gunshot wound in the abdomen, and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled the death a homicide. He was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. Sunday at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields.
Clements was ordered held on $3 million bond. He was due back in court June 1 on charges of first and second degree murder
A neatly manicured lawn in University Park is believed to be the root cause of a fatal shooting.
Charles Clements, 69, is charged with first and second-degree murder in Sunday night's fatal shooting of 23-year-old Joshua Funches.
Cook County prosecutors said that Clements shot and killed his neighbor because Funches' dog urinated on it Sunday night when the victim was out walking his fox terrier.
Patricia Funches said this Mothers' Day was a holiday to forget.
"He took my baby on Mother's Day. How cruel can you be?" she told CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago. "I'm so broken. I'm so broken."
Broken because her son was murdered, she says, simply because his puppy urinated on Clements' meticulously kept lawn.
"It's so hard to accept that that's why his life was taken," Patricia Funches said.
Neighbors also were stunned by the shooting.
"I was thinking that was so petty," said Kwesi Sallis, a friend of the victim. "You're a grown man. He's a young man, you know what I'm saying? It's just some grass, you know? You can grow the grass back."
Police said words were exchanged after the incident, which caused things to escalate. Joshua Funches reportedly started to walk back towards his home, which is right down the block, when Clements allegedly came up from behind and gunned him down just a couple of houses away.
According to University Park police Sgt. Dan Murphy., officers discovered Funches bleeding on the ground in front of a vacant home on the block when responding to a call about shots fired in the neighborhood.
Witnesses to the shooting pointed officers to Clements' home, where officers recovered a .45-caliber handgun they believe Clements used, Murphy said.
Clements is a former marine and a retired CTA bus driver. Neighbors say he had won beautification awards for his lawn and was obsessed with it.
A sign on Clements' mailbox urges the postman to not walk across the lawn. Still, longtime neighbors can't fathom that Clement's passion for landscaping led to violence.
"You couldn't imagine something like this happening, so I don't know just, whether he snapped or was it provoked or maybe there is something we don't know about," said neighbor Lloyd Allison.
"A long time ago I walked on the grass," said neighbor Lishawn Byers. "I was on the cell phone and I didn't know I stepped on the grass and he came out and said, 'watch it.' And I just said, 'I live right across the street. I've been living here. My bad, sir.' You know? That's just how he is about his grass."
But Byers said even with Clements' meticulous habits, he never thought Clements would pull a gun.
"I never thought it, especially out here, I never thought nothing like this would happen," said Byers.
Patricia Funches said the facts are clear; Clements' green thumb led him to kill her son.
"He wanted to send a message. Now I want the law to send a message. That's what I need," she said.
She addressed her son's accused killer directly on Wednesday.
"I don't hate him, but he took something very special away from me that can never, ever be replaced. His family can go and visit him in prison, but I have to go to the cemetery to see my son," she said.
And then there's the image of the last time she saw her son alive. It was in the ambulance as he writhed in agony with a bullet in his stomach.
"He was just going back and forth," she said. "I said 'Joshua call on Jesus to help you, because I can't help you, but call on Jesus.' And he said 'Jesus, Jesus.' Those were the last two words I heard my son say."
Joshua Funches was the father of two, with another child on the way. His mother said he was planning to marry his pregnant fiancée in weeks.
He suffered a single gunshot wound in the abdomen, and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled the death a homicide. He was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. Sunday at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields.
Clements was ordered held on $3 million bond. He was due back in court June 1 on charges of first and second degree murder
