Julio Foolio, a 26-year-old Jacksonville-based drill rapper with over 950,000 monthly listeners, whose real name was Charles Jones, was fatally shot and killed outside a Holiday Inn in Tampa on his June 23 birthday, while celebrating with his entourage.
The shooting is believed to be a coordinated, gang-related attack by rival gangs Ace's Top Killers (ATK).
Surveillance footage shows the suspects, wearing black clothing and masks, positioning themselves in the hotel car park before opening fire on Foolio's vehicle with semi-automatic rifles and handguns, after tracking and following him and his entourage from location to location.
Multiple suspects, including 18-year-old Sean Gathright, 21-year-olds Alicia Andrews and Isaiah Chance Jr., 27-year-old Davion Murphy and 30-year-old Rashad Murphy, have been arrested or are wanted in connection with the premeditated, gang-related murder of the rapper.
Gathright and the Murphy brothers are accused of being the shooters, while Chance Jr. and Andrews are named as the getaway drivers. The suspects allegedly belonged to the rival Jacksonville gang ATK, which had an ongoing feud with Julio Foolio's "6 Block" gang.
Julio Foolio survived multiple attempts on his life in recent years, according to his social media posts.
Surveillance video from the shooting, showing masked gunmen, was released by the police. Two vehicles were found shot at the scene.
The suspects are facing charges, including premeditated first-degree murder and attempted murder.
They allegedly followed Julio Foolio after he shared his location online multiple times.
Three others were injured in the shooting but survived. Tampa police worked with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshals on the investigation, which is still ongoing.
Sources: BBC, NY Times, NBC News, USAToday, Newsweek, WTSP, GephardtDaily, Hypefresh, ArcaMax, TheSource, XXL, TheBharatExpressNews, Complex, UPI, HipHopDX, Fox13News, BiloxiNewsEvents
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
