TAMPA -- Police chief Lee Bercaw and Jacksonville sheriff T.K. Waters joined forces to solve and announce arrests in the Tampa murder of a Jacksonville rapper last month.
Bercaw says three people are in custody, including one of the suspected shooters. Jacksonville police have picked up 18-year-old Sean Gathright, believed to be one of the gunmen, along with 21-year-old Isaiah Chance and 21-year-old Alicia Andrews. Chance and Andrews are charged though not suspected of being one of the attackers who surrounded a car at a Tampa motel early on June 23rd and opened fire with a handgun and two rifles. Instead, police say they Chance and Andrews tracked Charles Jones, a rapper known as Julio Foolio, to the hotel on McKinley Drive where he was shot and killed early on the morning of June 23rd. Three others in the car with him were wounded.
Police are still looking for two of the suspected shooters, 30-year-old Rashad Murphy and 27-year-old Davion Murphy.
Bercaw says the attackers are members of two rival gangs who joined forces to assassinate Jones, because of his ties to a third gang. JSO officers worked with Tampa Police to develop leads and identify the suspects. Gathright, Andrews and Chance were picked up in Jacksonville and are waiting to be sent to Tampa to face criminal proceedings.
"The city of Tampa is not where you want to come, to settle a dispute," Bercaw declared. "You will be arrested, you will be charged, and you will be prosecuted."
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in response to a reporter's question that detectives are keeping an eye on the leader of one of the gangs allegedly involved in Jones' killing. "He can't move around in Jacksonville without us knowing about it," Waters said. Bercaw says TPD's investigation into the murder remains open.
Photo: Tampa Police Department
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