@meghannmcuniff: A Florida prosecutor told a jury today that a "blatant gang war" led four men to murder a rival gang member who was a prominent rapper in Jacksonville. Three gunmen shot Charles "Julio Foolio" Jones Jr. to death as he sat in his Dodge Charger outside a hotel near the University of South Florida about 4:40 a.m. on June 23, 2024. Jones was in Tampa celebrating his 26th birthday. He was a prominent drill rapper in Jacksonville — a genre of hip-hop music that celebrates violence and mocks death — and a member of the 6 Block criminal street gang. He'd been shot before, including an October 2023 shooting in Houston, Texas, that was linked to one of the guns used to murder him. Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright and cousins Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy face possible death sentences if convicted of murdering Jones. Prosecutors say they plotted his murder to avenge previous gang-related murders and the music that celebrated them. Gathright and the Murphys were the gunmen, according to prosecutors, while Chance and his girlfriend, Alicia Andrews, were nearby in the parking lot after helping track Jones through the city. Jurors saw evidence of Chance's membership in the ATK gang or Ace's Top Killers, which is linked to rapper Yungeen Ace. The other evidence ranged from cellular data tracking the suspects' locations to videos of the gunmen at the scene of the murder, including footage from a Tesla that was charging in the parking lot when they ran by and executed Jones. A separate jury convicted Andrews of manslaughter, which was a lesser-included offense to the first-degree murder charge prosecutors were seeking. Michelle Doherty, an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County, argued for about 2 hours and 15 minutes this morning (Thursday, May 7) in Judge Michelle Sisco's courtroom in Florida's 13th Judicial Circuit in Tampa. She began by telling jurors, "There is a real gang war going on in Jacksonville." "ATK and 1200 are at war with 6 Block. It is blatant. They shoot each other, and then they post about it on social media. When one of the opposition dies, you see photographs of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady the goat, being posted in the early morning hours. You see laughing emojis. They produce and post drill rap videos making fun of people who have been shot and murdered. There is nothing fun about the gang war in Jacksonville, and on June 23 of 2024 this violence spilled into Tampa when these four men decided and planned and came to Tampa for one night, for one purpose, and that was to hunt and track and kill Charles Jones." Jurors will begin deliberating Friday morning. The punishment phase begins after the guilt phase. #law #crime #court #hiphop

Meghann Cuniff

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Thursday 07 May 2026 22:04:27 GMT