Julio Foolio — an up-and-coming rapper from Florida — has died in a shooting outside a Tampa-area hotel … TMZ has confirmed.
His attorney Lewis Fusco released a statement announcing the death Sunday, just hours after his client passed. According to the statement … Julio — whose real name was Charles Jones — was in town to celebrate his birthday.
While he was staying at an AirBnb at first … Fusco cites law enforcement reports which say he was kicked out of his accommodations for exceeding the maximum occupancy and checked in to a local Holiday Inn.
Just before 5 AM ET, an incident occurred in the hotel parking lot … with Julio’s lawyers saying the rapper was reportedly ambushed and killed. They’re asking for privacy for the family at this time.
The fatal shooting left a devastating scene in its wake — victims taken off in stretchers and cars riddled with bullet holes … and, TMZ’s obtained video capturing it all.
Check out the series of clips … one person can clearly be seen in pain as the paramedics roll them away from the Holiday Inn toward an ambulance. Cops say three other people were injured in the shooting that killed Foolio — and, they’re all expected to survive.
Three other people were reportedly shot during the ambush and transported to the hospital. They are all expected to make a full recovery, and cops are investigating the cause of the shooting. We’ve reached out to law enforcement for more details … so far, no word back.
It’s easy to see many shots were fired at the scene … just look at the black sedan sitting out front of the hotel — its front is completely shot up from what we can only imagine was an intense shootout.
Cops could also be seen examining another car that looked like it didn’t have a scratch on it … unclear how this vehicle plays into this morning’s tragedy — cops are still investigating.
Julio Foolio first rose to prominence back in 2018 with his debut album “6toven.” He’s subsequently released a series of albums culminating in this year’s “Resurrection” which he dropped back in April.
His lyrics regularly referenced murders from around the Jacksonville area reportedly including gang-related slayings. He was shot in the foot in another incident last year.
He was 26.