Kevin Culverson / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
Kevin Culverson was bent on getting revenge on those who allegedly stole his property and confronted him about selling marijuana in his South Side neighborhood, prosecutors said.
But when he opened fire just blocks from President Barack Obama’s Chicago home on April 22, Culverson didn’t kill anyone he believed robbed and harassed him, authorities said.
Instead, Culverson gunned down 15-year-old Cornelius “Cornbread” German, who had nothing to do with the previous altercation, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Crocker said Thursday.
Cornelius had left a backyard dice game with friends in the 5000 block of South Evans Avenue when he was gunned down, Crocker said.
Cornelius was making his way through a gangway to the front of the home to eventually meet his parents, who were on their way to pick him up.
But Culverson, who was in a nearby backyard, allegedly reached through a fence and shot Cornelius in the back.
Cornelius tried running away but he collapsed in a nearby lot, Crocker said.
Several witnesses said they saw 21-year-old Culverson in the adjacent backyard before the shooting and saw him running away after, Crocker said.
Shortly after the murder, Cornelius’ mother told the Chicago Sun-Times she knew something was wrong when she didn’t see the boy waiting at a Walgreens at the corner of 51st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue as planned.
“I had this sinking gut feeling something wasn’t right,” 42-year-old Timika Rutledge said. “I saw a police officer. He said a little kid got shot. Somehow, I knew it was my baby. I went back there. I saw my baby on the ground in the grass. I saw his gym shoes and his jacket.”
Cornelius, of the 1000 block of West 51st Street, was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Thursday, Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Culverson, of the 700 block of East 50th Place, held in lieu of $1.5 million bond.
However, Culverson, who goes by the street name “Big Moe,” is already in custody with the Illinois Department of Corrections for a manufacturing and delivering cannabis near a school conviction from last summer.
He was originally sentenced to boot camp for the drug charge but had that sentenced revoked and was sent to prison for a year, Crocker said.
Culverson also has a 2011 possession of a stolen motor vehicle conviction.