On Sunday morning, October 2, 20-year-old Leslie Jerome Jones Jr. was shot and killed at Club Empire, yet another act of violence that has occurred in or around the Ybor City hip-hop club.
On Thursday morning a number of citizens, including many Ybor business owners and/or residents, were outspoken in calling on the council to find a way to shut the club down. But no one's words had more impact than those of the slain young man's mother, Sharon Jones.
"This is my only child, my only son, please, I'm asking you to close this down…. Please shut this down," she begged the board, speaking of the club.
It might be one thing if the incident at Club Empire had been an isolated one. But it's hardly that. At least three other fatal attacks and numerous incidents have occurred at or near the club over the past nine years.
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2011.