"Something has to be done about this escalating violence against Black and other women of Cleveland," said Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Coalition and Women's March Cleveland

Antoinette Harris called 9-1-1 about 2:30 am Monday morning from her apartment on East 151st Street near Bartlett Avenue in the city's Mount Pleasant neighborhood and told the dispatcher that Carlton Knox, 55,  her boyfriend at the time, had hit her in the head.

A police report says the woman lost consciousness while on the phone with the dispatcher and by the time police arrived at the scene she was dead.

She was later pronounced dead at University Hospitals.

Knox has been charged with aggravated murder, and more charges are expected.

He had mental health problems and has a history of criminal violence and a lengthy criminal record

He was  on probation after he pleaded guilty in July to attempted felonious assault for attacking a man in Euclid.

He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and briefly attended college, aspiring to become a professional football player, sources said.