Man arrested at courthouse for attempted murder from Friday funeral shooting
Sep. 11—URBANA — A Champaign man who allegedly tried to kill another man during a dispute at a funeral on Friday is in police custody.
Linnell Blount Jr., 29, whose last known address was in the 100 block of Bellefontaine Street, was arrested for attempted murder when he showed up at the county courthouse Monday morning for a status call on an unrelated criminal case.
A court security officer familiar with Blount recognized him, contacted colleagues and he was taken to the jail soon after entering the courthouse for his 9 a.m. hearing before Judge Roger Webber.
A warrant had been issued for Blount's arrest Friday following shots that were fired about 12:15 p.m. outside the New Life Church of Faith, 1409 W. Dublin St., where a woman's funeral was taking place.
Urbana police Lt. Mike Cervantes said an argument between two men had started inside of the church and spilled outside.
There, according to witnesses, Blount pulled a gun and began shooting at the person with whom he was feuding. That man ran away and escaped being hit but multiple shots hit a nearby home in the 600 block of East Columbia Avenue. Cervantes said no one was harmed at the house.
Champaign police, the Champaign County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Marshal's Service have been working with Urbana police on the shooting since it happened.
Blount is no stranger to gun violence. Late last year, he was the victim of a shooting in Champaign. Because of his injuries, court records indicated that his armed habitual criminal case was continued.
Blount had been charged in April 2022 for allegedly having a loaded gun in a car in Champaign on April 5. With two previous convictions for residential burglary and another for possession of a firearm, he is not allowed to possess weapons. He faces six to 30 years in prison for that crime if convicted.
Because he was out on bond in that case when he allegedly shot at the man Friday, if he's convicted of attempted murder, he would have to serve that six to 30-year sentence after the earlier one is completed.
He's being held in the county jail in lieu of $2 million bond.
