Police have arrested one suspect in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old outside a Cleveland Heights convenience store, while a second suspect remains at large — and the public is left asking how many chances the accused shooter already had.
Collin Funches was apprehended Saturday night in connection with the homicide of Issac Martin, of South Euclid, Cleveland Heights officials announced Sunday. Martin was shot around 1:30 p.m. on July 16 outside Noble Food Deal at 2230 Noble Road, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office. He was taken to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and died the following day.
Funches was identified as the suspected shooter last Sunday following a 72-hour manhunt that required coordination between Cleveland Heights Police, Garfield Heights Police, East Cleveland Police, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, and the Cleveland Police Real Time Crime Center, according to 3News.
Investigators say the suspects arrived in a stolen red Kia and fled into East Cleveland after the shooting. The Kia was torched at Holyoke Avenue and East 133rd Street shortly after the crime.
A second suspect involved in the homicide has not been identified. Cleveland Heights Police are asking witnesses or anyone with surveillance video to contact the Detective Bureau at 216-291-3883. Crimestoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's identification and arrest.
What cleveland.com's report leaves out matters as much as what it includes. The outlet provides no information about Funches' criminal history — whether he had prior arrests, whether he was out on bond or probation, or whether a prosecutor's office had already cut him a deal that put him back on the street. In a county where progressive prosecution has become the norm, these are not idle questions. They are the questions that determine whether Issac Martin would still be alive.
The stolen Kia, the arson to destroy evidence, the midday shooting outside a neighborhood store — this has the markings of repeat offenders who understood the system's weaknesses. The public deserves to know whether Funches was a known quantity to law enforcement and the courts before he allegedly took a young man's life.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch source provided for this story covered an unrelated motorcycle crash and contributed no reporting on the Cleveland Heights case.
One suspect is in custody. One is still out there. And the records that could explain how this happened in the first place remain unexamined by the press that should be demanding them.
