On Monday, a makeshift grave site marked by red and white balloons blew in the wind of the vacant lot near an alleyway. Some got caught in the trees.
Candles burned out, melted and stuck to the cement just an arms-length from where the body of Jaevelle Swift, 15, was found on Saturday. An almost empty bottle of Meukow VS Cognac, roses and dozens of teddy bears covered the blood that stained the brown and decaying grass two days later.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a man in connection with the slaying on the city's Southeast side after a deadly weekend.
Noah Allen is charged with aggravated murder for the Saturday shooting death of Swift, according to a warrant filed in Cleveland Municipal Court Sunday.
Fatal Saturday night
Swift and a 16-year-old boy were in the backseat of a Jeep being driven by another man, with a second man in the passenger seat. The passenger pointed the gun at the teenagers and demanded money. One of the boys gave the driver money before they ran away from the Jeep, according to a Cleveland police news release.
The passenger fired at the boys and shot Swift in the back. The 16-year-old boy ran to a nearby house to get a help. Swift, who was found at East 86th and Congress Court, was taken to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, where he later died.
Swift is the fourth teenager to be killed this year. He is the second teen to be killed in the last month.
Deadly weekend
Several cars filled with young men pulled over and shared their condolences and talked affectionately about Swift on Monday. Their faces were still, sulky and gloomy as Cleveland's graying skies.
The shooting death of Swift was the apex of a deadly weekend throughout Cleveland, pushing the homicide number to 22 so far.
Early Sunday morning, police were called to a home in the 3400 block of E. 51st Street for a man shot.
Officers found Jermaine Wagner lying on the floor, receiving CPR from his daughter and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, back, side and arm, according to a police report. Wagner, 42, later died at a local hospital.
About 12 hours later, Terry Brink of Parma Heights, was found inside his vehicle with three gunshot wounds to the right side of his body near the intersection of West 130th and McGowan Avenue. Brink, 52, was unconscious and unresponsive. He was declared dead at a local hospital, a police report said.
Homicide detectives continue to investigate all three shootings.
Wagner's final resting place closely resembled that of Swift by Monday. Balloons festooned the porch of a cream-colored home blew in the wind. The street was quiet and less chaotic than the night before.
