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Man pleads guilty in 2020 shooting of Mount Holly police officer

The man who shot Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon in 2020 pleaded guilty to the crime Tuesday and will receive a life sentence in prison.

Investigators said Officer Tyler Herndon and two other officers were responding to a break-in call around 3:30 a.m. at the Mount Holly Car Wash when Joshua Funk fired shots directly at them, killing Herndon. Neighbors told WSOC they heard the gunfire from a block away.

Funk was indicted for murder, along with a slew of other charges related to the shooting and another burglary.

Joshua Tyler Funk pleaded guilty to murder on July 5, 2022, in the 2020 death of Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon.
Joshua Tyler Funk pleaded guilty to murder on July 5, 2022, in the 2020 death of Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon.

Tuesday, Funk acknowledged his responsibility for the shooting before a judge and formally entered a guilty plea for murder. A WSOC reporter was in the courtroom as Funk spoke to the judge. As part of the plea, the other charges related to the shooting will be dropped.

Following the shooting, Mount Holly Police Chief Don Roper and other officers attended Funk’s initial hearings with their badges covered in honor of Herndon. Roper told WSOC, “The best way for this to end is to remember Tyler Herndon.”

Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon, 25, had been with the department for less than two years when he died after a shooting on Dec. 11, 2020.
Mount Holly Police Officer Tyler Herndon, 25, had been with the department for less than two years when he died after a shooting on Dec. 11, 2020.

One neighbor in Mount Holly described Herndon as “very friendly” and said he was “always helping out.” Herndon was killed two days before his 26th birthday, and family members said he had aspirations to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Herndon’s motto, “Be in pursuit of the ultimate good,” is also now etched on a newly dedicated police memorial in Mount Holly.

Funk is being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

WSOC is a news partner of The Charlotte Observer.