The 26-year-old musician was shot multiple times in a Tampa parking lot in a 2024 incident tied to a Jacksonville gang war, investigators said.

4 men found guilty of first-degree murder in ambush shooting of rapper Julio Foolio

The 26-year-old musician was shot multiple times in a Tampa parking lot in a 2024 incident tied to a Jacksonville gang war, investigators said.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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May 9, 2026 1:03 p.m. ET

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Rapper Julio Foolio. Credit:

Julio Foolio/Instagram

- Four men have been found guilty of first-degree murder in the ambush shooting of rapper Julio Foolio.

- The 26-year-old musician was shot multiple times in a Tampa parking lot in 2024.

- The incident was tied to a Jacksonville gang war, investigators said.

Four men have been convicted of murdering Julio Foolio.

A jury in Tampa found four defendants — Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy, and Rashad Murphy — guilty of murder in the first degree on Friday for the June 2024 shooting death of the 26-year-old rapper, whose real name was Charles Jones.

"These defendants brought a gang war from Jacksonville into Hillsborough County, and their violence ends here," state attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement shared on her Instagram account. "This guilty verdict delivers accountability and justice for Charles Jones' family, but it also sends a clear message that this community will not tolerate ruthless and calculated violence."

Representatives for Chance, Gathright, Davion Murphy, and Rashad Murphy did not immediately respond to **'s requests for comment.

Julio Foolio/Instagram

Jurors were presented with surveillance video of the shooting as well as text messages sent among the defendants that suggested a coordinated attempt to follow the rapper to an event and kill him, according to Lopez's statement. The state attorney also alleged that the four men trailed Jones and his friends across multiple locations before shooting him in an ambush in a parking lot at a hotel near the University of South Florida.

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The *Tampa Bay Times* reported that all of the defendants besides Chance were also convicted of attempted second-degree murder for other people during the shooting. It also reported that the jury made special findings that Chance and both Murphys were members of criminal gangs that had established rivalries with 6 Block, a Jacksonville-based gang that counted Julio Foolio as a member.

The sentencing phase of the case is scheduled to begin on May 11. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for all four men.

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A representative for Foolio confirmed the artist's death at the time of the shooting. "Mr. Jones had been in Tampa to celebrate his birthday over the weekend," the representative told EW. "Law enforcement reports indicate that he initially stayed at an Airbnb but was asked to leave due to exceeding occupancy limits. He subsequently relocated to the Holiday Inn, where he was involved in an incident in the hotel parking lot and reportedly ambushed."**

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