JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Investigators believe one of the suspects accused in the murder of Jacksonville rapper Foolio took part in a previous attempt on the rapper's life, newly filed court documents show.
Foolio, whose real name is Charles Jones, was shot and killed while celebrating his 26th birthday in Tampa on June 23. Three others were hurt in the shooting.
Five suspects have been charged in Jones' murder: Isaiah Chance, Alicia Andrews, Sean Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy, who police are still searching for.
Investigators claim Jones' death was the result of retaliation in an "ongoing Jacksonville gang war." All of the suspects are documented gang members of ATK and 1200, both of which have been involved in a decades-long feud between Foolio's gang 6 Block. The Department of Justice said in a release in 2022 that ATK stands for "Ace's Top Killers."
Documents filed by the state Saturday request that Chance, 21, remain in jail without bond because there is sufficient evidence he committed serious crimes. Court documents state Chance told a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detective that "once he gets off the monitor" he would flee the state and "never wants to be seen again." Chance was wearing a tracking monitor for an unrelated offense.
The documents revealed other details connecting the five suspects to Jones' murder.
Investigators claim Chance and Andrews, also 21, tracked and followed Jones and his entourage in a silver Chevy Cruze to two different locations on the night of Jones' murder. Surveillance video showed Chance at both locations talking on a phone which investigators found to be Andrews' device. Phone records indicated that Chance was communicating with Gathright, 18, who was in a second suspect vehicle; a black Chevy Impala.
A license plate reader search later confirmed both vehicles traveled from the Jacksonville area to the Tampa area before Jones' murder, and then left the area the following afternoon.
Both suspect vehicles followed Jones to a final location, a Homes 2 Suites, where three shooters armed with two AR-style rifles and a Glock got out of the Impala and sprayed Jones' vehicle with bullets, killing him and injuring three others. Investigators said the three shooters dressed in black were identified as Rashad Murphy, 30, Davion Murphy, 27, and Gathright.
No spent rifle casings were recovered from the scene of the murder, prompting investigators to believe the suspected firearms used in the crime were equipped with brass catchers, which are designed to collect spent casings after the firearm is used.
Investigators did, however, locate 31 9mm spent shell casings from the scene.
On June 26, JSO officers conducted a traffic stop on Gathright and located a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the center console, records state. A further search of the vehicle located .223 rifle live rounds and nine rifle spent casings. The pistol did not match the casings recovered from the scene of Jones' murder.
However, documents say the rifle casings found inside Gathright's vehicle were a presumptive match to two prior shootings, a May homicide and a shooting on Oct. 7, 2023, which was an earlier attempt to kill Jones.
After a search through Gathright's residence, investigators located a gun safe with multiple rifles including at least one equipped with a brass catcher consistent with the one used for Jones' murder. Documents state that spent 9mm shell casings were also found in the safe which was a presumptive match to the casings found at the scene of Jones' murder.
Documents detail additional evidence including Ring camera video capturing Gathright, Chance, Andrews and Davion Murphy at an Airbnb in Tampa roughly one mile away from the scene of Jones' murder. The Airbnb reservation was booked from June 22 to June 24 under the name Rashad Murphy, the fifth suspect, according to court records.
Investigators also said video from Gathright's house showed him and Chance loading bags "big enough to carry rifles" inside the black Chevy Impala in the afternoon before the trip to Tampa.
Gathright, Chance and Andrews were all arrested by JSO less than a week after Jones' murder. Rashad Murphy was arrested on July 30 at the Collins Preserve apartments in Jacksonville's Ortega area.
All the suspects are charged with first-degree murder. Investigators are continuing to search for Davion Murphy.