Charles Jones, known as the rapper Julio Foolio, inset, was murdered in the parking lot of a Tampa Holiday Inn while celebrating his birthday. (Inset: Julio Foolio/YouTube; Screengrab: WFLA/YouTube)
Police in Tampa are looking for the person or people responsible for murdering a rapper in an ambush-style shooting in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn.
According to cops, the shooting that injured four people took place around 4:40 a.m. Sunday. Paramedics pronounced one of the victims, Charles Jones, who performs under the name Julio Foolio, dead on scene. First responders rushed the other three victims to the hospital. They are expected to survive. Local TV news footage from the scene showed a car riddled with bullet holes through the front windshield. Another car also was hit by the gunfire.
Jones, of Jacksonville, had turned 26 on Friday and was in Tampa to celebrate, his longtime attorney Lewis Fusco said in a statement to Law&Crime. The "When I see you" rapper had been at his party at a Tampa Airbnb but was asked to leave because it exceeded occupancy limits, Fusco stated. As Jones was pulling up to the Holiday Inn at 11606 McKinley Drive he was reportedly ambushed, his attorney said.
Jones had amassed a large following on line with about 650,000 subscribers on YouTube and 1 million followers on Instagram.
He made several posts promoting his party on his Instagram story with updates throughout the night.
"Best birthday everrrr" he posted.
The rapper went on to say the party at the Airbnb got out of control and the cops broke it up.
According to Jacksonville's News4Jax, he had been shot twice in three years prior to his murder. NBC and ABC affiliates WTLV-WJXX report that Jones belonged to local gang KTA which has had several beefs with other gangs. Jacksonville police arrested Jones in April 2023 for felony fleeing and eluding.
Anyone with information related to Jones' murder is asked to contact Tampa PD by calling 813-231-6130 or share a tip via Tip411, which is accessible through the TampaPD app.
