by Eric Resnick

Cleveland--A single gunshot to the back took the life of a 23-year-old gay man on Cleveland?s west side during the early morning hours of August 11.

Allen Terrell Jones, 23, known to friends as ?Kool Aid,? was shot between 3:45 and 4:00 am on Detroit Avenue at West 48th Street. The bullet exited through his abdomen, and he was taken by EMS to Metro Health Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 6:48 am. Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Balraj, M.D., ruled the death a homicide.

Jones was a resident of Montgomery, Alabama, but had spent the last 13 months in Cleveland moving between friends? homes. He attended classes at Cuyahoga Community College and was a dancer in the house ball scene.

He is described by family and friends as a sweet, considerate, sensitive young man with no known enemies.

Jones? murder occurred about 100 yards from the spot where Donathyn Rodgers, a 19-year-old gay youth, was killed nine months ago.

Rodgers? murder is believed to have been prostitution-related. No arrest has been made.

The circumstances around Jones? murder are a mystery. Police have no suspects, no motive, and sketchy information.

Jones most recently lived with the drag performer Divinity about two miles from the murder site near West 110th and Berea Road.

Divinity said she was with Jones ?a couple minutes before? the shooting, and that the two of them were coming from Bounce nightclub, five blocks away at West 28th and Detroit.

Divinity declined to comment beyond that.

Bounce closed and was emptied over an hour before the shooting, at 2:30 am.

Jones? aunt, Pam Kelly of Cleveland, said Jones, the oldest of ten children, used to help take care of her disabled son.

?He was supposed to return to Alabama the day after he was killed,? said Kelly.

Ward 13 city councilor Joe Cimperman said that he and Ward 17 councilor Matt Zone are concerned about the pair of gay murders. The two crimes straddle the boundary between their wards.

Cimperman said he and Zone are working with the Second Police District to patrol that area better, and that St. Paul?s Church at Franklin and West 45th is developing some outreach programs to try to reduce the overall crime in that area.

Cimperman said he and the rest of council ?are all ears? to input from the LGBT community as to how to deal with the prostitution that area is noted for.

Divinity hosted a benefit at the Grid nightclub August 15 to help the family pay to ship Jones? body back to Alabama and for the burial expenses.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 19 at the Ask Creek CME Church in Gordonville, Alabama. Arrangements are being directed by E.G. Cummings funeral home of Montgomery.

Additional memorials can be made payable to Jones? grandmother, Annie Jones, and sent to the Gay People?s Chronicle, P.O. Box 5426, Cleveland, Ohio 44101.

Cleveland police ask that anyone with information to contact them at 216-7912444. Information can also be passed on anonymously through the Chronicle at 216-6318646 or the Cleveland Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Center at 216-6515428.