Man fatally shot outside motorcycle club
YOUNGSTOWN
A 47-year-old Cleveland man was fatally shot just before 4 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot outside a private club at Southern and Midlothian boulevards on the South Side.
A police report said the victim, Bryant K. Abercrombie, was hit by gunfire at 3:59 a.m. after the shooter was ejected from the motorcycle club, known as Ridaz Block, which is in a row of storefronts on that corner.
Arriving after being alerted to the location by multiple activations of the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection system, police found a large crowd had assembled, with several people surrounding the victim.
Police found the black, bald and bearded victim lying on his back, 20 feet from the club’s rear door, motionless and not breathing, apparently having been shot once in the head.
The crowd began to throw things and became violent, so police called for extra officers.
An ambulance crew advised that the victim was deceased.
“Several attempts were made to acquire witnesses, but they were uncooperative,” according to the report, written by Officer Anthony Congemi.
The crime lab gathered evidence at the scene.
No suspects are in custody.
Detective Sgt. Darryl Martin is the lead investigator. Anyone with information is urged to call the detective bureau at 330-742-8911 during business hours.
This case represents the city’s 15th homicide of 2014. There were 15 homicides in the city as of this time last year, and the city finished 2013 with 20 homicides.
The club’s rear door to the parking lot says “Private. Members Only.” Its emblem says the club was established in 2005. It’s slogans are: “In the block we trust” and “Deeper than bikes.”
On its website, the motorcycle club describes itself as “both a motorcycle club and a family,” and it says it stands “for the love of family values, love for the community and love for the bike world.”
Its colors — red, white, black and silver — represent the diversity of cultures.
“Race, gender, ethnicity, size, age etc. is not an issue as long as you show the patch you’re wearing love and respect and do the same for fellow riders,” the website says.
With its mother chapter in Youngstown, the club also has chapters in Fort Wayne and Kokomo, Ind., and Royal, Fla.