Solved case · 2024
Also known as Charles Andrew Jones II · Foolio
The short answer
Rapper Julio Foolio (Charles Andrew Jones II) was fatally shot in a gang-related ambush in a hotel parking lot in Tampa, Florida, on June 23, 2024. Five people were later tried: four men were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole, and one woman was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Murder of Julio FoolioJulio Foolio, the stage name of Jacksonville rapper Charles Andrew Jones II, was shot and killed in the early hours of June 23, 2024, in a parking lot at a Home2 Suites hotel in Tampa, Florida. Jones, who had turned 26 two days earlier, was leaving the hotel with three friends after a birthday celebration when armed men ambushed his car. Three assailants approached carrying a pistol and semi-automatic rifles, fired multiple shots at Jones's vehicle and a nearby car, then fled. Jones was struck several times in the chest, back and right arm; an autopsy found that bullets had penetrated his lung, heart, aorta and kidney, and that he lost roughly two liters of blood. His three companions were wounded but survived.
Investigators tied the killing to a long-running feud between Jones's Jacksonville-based gang, 6-Block, and two rival gangs, 1200 Out East and ATK. Jones had survived an earlier shooting linked to the same conflict in October 2023, and authorities said ballistics from the June 2024 killing matched ammunition recovered from that shooting and from a 2022 homicide.
Five people were ultimately charged in the killing: Isaiah Chance and Alicia Andrews were accused of acting as lookouts, while Sean Gathright and brothers Davion and Rashad Murphy were identified as the shooters. Chance, Andrews and Gathright were arrested in late July 2024; Rashad Murphy was arrested days later; Davion Murphy, the last suspect, was arrested in Jacksonville in January 2025. All five were charged with first-degree murder and related counts, and prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty against Chance, Gathright and the Murphy brothers, though it was taken off the table for Andrews.
Andrews stood trial separately beginning in October 2025. Prosecutors argued she helped plan the ambush, tracked Jones's whereabouts and acted as a lookout during the shooting; her defense said she was unaware of the murder plot and had simply accompanied her boyfriend and co-defendant, Isaiah Chance. On October 31, 2025, a jury acquitted Andrews of first-degree murder but convicted her of the lesser offense of manslaughter. After delays tied to a dispute over the trial judge's conduct, which led to a new judge being assigned to the case, Andrews was sentenced on May 22, 2026, to 15 years in prison.
Chance, Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy stood trial together beginning April 8, 2026, after a judge denied their requests for separate trials. Prosecutors presented cell-site data, ballistics evidence and witness testimony placing the four men at the scene, along with a social media post celebrating the killing that investigators traced to Rashad Murphy. On May 8, 2026, a jury convicted all four of first-degree premeditated murder following eight hours of deliberation. At a subsequent sentencing hearing, jurors heard testimony from Jones's mother and from Gathright, who expressed remorse. On May 15, 2026, the jury recommended life sentences rather than the death penalty for all four men, and on June 22, 2026, they were formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, along with additional concurrent terms on related conspiracy and attempted-murder counts.
Jones was wounded but survived an earlier shooting linked to the same gang conflict that would later kill him.
Julio Foolio (Charles Andrew Jones II) was fatally shot in a gang-related ambush in a hotel parking lot in Tampa, Florida; three friends with him were wounded.
Authorities announced the arrests of three suspects, Isaiah Chance, Alicia Andrews and Sean Gathright, made two days earlier, and said two more suspects were still being sought.
Rashad Murphy was arrested as the fourth suspect.
Chance, Andrews and Gathright pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy charges.
The State Attorney's Office said it was deliberating whether to seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against Chance, Gathright and Rashad Murphy; the death penalty was taken off the table for Andrews.
Rashad Murphy's defense sought a forensic neuropsychological evaluation, planning an insanity defense.
Davion Murphy, the fifth and final suspect, was arrested at an apartment complex in Jacksonville, Florida.
Alicia Andrews's trial for first-degree murder began in Tampa, with jury selection starting the same day.
A jury acquitted Andrews of first-degree murder but convicted her of the lesser offense of manslaughter.
A new judge, Kimberly Fernandez, was appointed to replace Judge Michelle Sisco ahead of Andrews's sentencing.
A Hillsborough County circuit judge denied the four male defendants' motions for separate trials, ordering them to stand trial together starting April 8, 2026.
The trial of Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy began, with jury selection starting the same day.
A jury convicted all four men of first-degree premeditated murder after eight hours of deliberation.
Andrews's sentencing was further delayed after her defense petitioned to overturn her conviction or secure a new trial, citing alleged misconduct by the original trial judge.
The jury in the four men's sentencing hearing recommended life without parole rather than the death penalty for all four defendants.
Andrews was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.
Chance, Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy were formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
American rapper known professionally as Julio Foolio; fatally shot in a gang-related ambush in a hotel parking lot in Tampa, Florida, on June 23, 2024, two days after his 26th birthday.[3]
Accused of helping plan the ambush and acting as a lookout during the shooting; acquitted of first-degree murder on October 31, 2025, but convicted of the lesser offense of manslaughter and sentenced on May 22, 2026, to 15 years in prison.[3]
Associate of the 1200 street gang identified by authorities as one of three gunmen in the ambush; arrested January 6, 2025; convicted of first-degree premeditated murder on May 8, 2026, and sentenced on June 22, 2026, to life in prison without parole plus four concurrent life terms on related conspiracy and attempted-murder counts.[3]
Member of the ATK street gang accused of acting as a lookout during the ambush; convicted of first-degree premeditated murder on May 8, 2026, and sentenced on June 22, 2026, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[3]
Member of the 1200 street gang identified by authorities as one of three gunmen in the ambush; convicted of first-degree premeditated murder on May 8, 2026, and sentenced on June 22, 2026, to life in prison without parole plus four concurrent life terms on related conspiracy and attempted-murder counts.[3]
Identified by authorities as one of three gunmen in the ambush; convicted of first-degree premeditated murder on May 8, 2026, and sentenced on June 22, 2026, to life in prison without parole plus four concurrent 30-year terms on related conspiracy and attempted-murder counts.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Credit: Carl T. Thoner died 1938Public domainSourceSOLVEDListenTampa, Florida · 1920s
Between April 1926 and May 1927, ten people were murdered in Tampa, Florida, in a series of attacks including the killing of Emma Hilliard, the axe murders of the Rowell household, and the murders of the Merrell family. Benjamin Franklin Levins was convicted and executed for five of the killings, though all ten deaths were believed to be connected.
Credit: DanTDCC BY-SA 4.0SourceCOLDListenWildlife on Easy Street sanctuary, Tampa, Florida · 1990s
Don Lewis, a Tampa, Florida, businessman and co-founder of an exotic-animal sanctuary, disappeared on August 18, 1997, at age 59, after leaving home on an early-morning delivery; his van was found two days later at an airport 40 miles away with the keys inside. He was declared legally dead in 2002. No one has been arrested or charged, and investigators have said they have no evidence a crime occurred; the case drew renewed public attention after the 2020 documentary series Tiger King.
Credit: NTSBPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenBank of America Tower, downtown Tampa, Florida · 2000s
On January 5, 2002, 15-year-old Charles J. Bishop stole a Cessna 172 during a flight lesson in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and flew it into the Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, killing himself. A suicide note cited Osama bin Laden, but officials found no evidence of any terrorist connection and treated the crash as an apparent suicide.
SOLVEDListenLeongatha, Victoria, Australia · 2023
Erin Patterson murdered three relatives and seriously injured a fourth by serving beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at a family lunch in Leongatha, Victoria, in July 2023. She was convicted on all charges in July 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenEditorial useSourceOVERTURNEDListenColorado Springs, Colorado · 2020
Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old boy from Colorado Springs, was reported missing on January 27, 2020, and later found to have been murdered by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch (also known as Letecia Hardin), who was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life without parole; her conviction was overturned on appeal in April 2026.
Satilla Shores, near Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia · 2020
On February 23, 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three white men in trucks while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, and was fatally shot by Travis McMichael after a struggle. No arrests were made for over two months until a video of the killing went viral, after which Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan were charged, tried, and convicted of murder and other crimes in state court, and later convicted of federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges.
