Man Killed After Dog Urinates on Neighbor's Lawn
(May 13) -- An Illinois man was so protective of his lawn that he allegedly killed a neighbor whose dog urinated in front of his home.
According to police, 69-year-old Charles Clements -- whose manicured yard was reportedly named the best-looking lawn in the Chicago suburb of University Park -- shot and killed 23-year-old Joshua Funches after the victim's pet fox terrier relieved itself on Clements' property Sunday night.
The victim's mother, Patricia Funches, told the Chicago Tribune that her son lost his life in a squabble about landscaping.
"It was all over a little wooden plaque," she said, referring to a sign honoring Clements' award-winning lawn. "It was a senseless death."
After Funches -- a father of two with a third child on the way -- allowed his dog Gucci to urinate on Clements' yard, the former Marine and retired truck driver exchanged nasty words with the victim.
Witnesses say Clements drew a handgun, and Funches told him: "Next time you pull out a pistol, why don't you use it?"
According to WBBM 780, Funches then started to walk back toward his home, but Clements approached him from behind and shot him once in the abdomen.
When police arrived on the scene, they reportedly found the victim bleeding on the ground in front of a vacant home down the block from Clements' home, and witnesses directed the officers to the suspect's house -- where Clements was waiting in his garage with the door open.
"I knew you were coming for me," he told police, according to Will County Assistant State's Attorney Sondra Denmark. "That's why I changed my clothes. I knew you were coming for me."
Investigators recovered a .45-caliber handgun from the home that they believe Clements used in the killing. Clements faces first- and second-degree murder charges, and is being held on $3 million bail.
Neighbors said they knew Clements was protective of his grass -- he actually has a sign on his mailbox warning the mailman to keep off his lawn.
But they never thought his passion for landscaping would turn violent.
"I was thinking that was so petty," Kwesi Sallis, a friend of the victim, told WBBM. "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."
Man Killed After Dog Urinates on Neighbor's Lawn
Man Killed After Dog Urinates on Neighbor's Lawn
Originally Posted by acecrystal
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