JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Sandrikas Mays, the mother of slain Jacksonville rapper “Julio Foolio,” told Newsweek in a recent interview that before his death, she begged her son to stop rapping out of fear for his safety — and hers.
Charles Jones, 26, was shot and killed in an ambush attack outside of a Tampa hotel last month during a birthday celebration. Three others who were with Jones were also shot.
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Jones, also known as “Foolio,” was known for his popular drill rap videos with controversial lyrics about real-life murders involving rival gangs in Jacksonville.
Mays told Newsweek she learned her son had been shot when she got a phone call at 4 a.m. on June 23 but at first, she thought he would be OK.
He had survived being shot before.
In the last three years, Jones was shot at least twice in Jacksonville.
“I never thought he would pass away from a shooting, even though he had been shot at a lot of times. So by the time I went to go pick up his aunt, another friend called and told me the bad news. And I just couldn’t take it,” Mays told Newsweek.
Mays said she was supportive of her son’s rap career and was involved in all aspects. But eventually, things turned dangerous.
“I stayed on you bout this beef ***t, cussed u out, begged u to take stuff down and when I was SHOT 8 times, I spared their lives eventho mine was changed!!!,” she posted on Instagram shortly after his death.
She said Jones wasn’t getting shot “because he killed somebody, because he robbed somebody, because anything like that” but that the gun violence all stemmed from his controversial lyrics.
“I was telling him, ‘It’s your rapping. You need to stop it,’” Mays said. “I talked to him about these things, but these kids do what they want to do. You can’t tell them anything. Even as an adult, you can’t. He’ll listen to some things that I say, but he did what he wanted to do.”
Since Jones’ death, Mays has been sharing photos and videos of him, including a video of his memorial service, on her Instagram page. She said later this year a documentary about Jones’ life will be released. News4JAX tried to contact Mays on Instagram but she did not immediately respond.
“I want Charles to be remembered as a person, not as just like a dog on a street or anything like that, because he did do some good things for the community. He touched a lot of people’s lives,” Mays said.
His murder remains unsolved, an attorney representing the family told News4JAX on Friday. But Mays is optimistic that those responsible will be caught, she told Newsweek.
“I know for a fact we will have justice for Charles,” she said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been on high alert following the death of Jones.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said that he had discussions with the undersheriff and others and told them to pay close attention to certain groups that he knows are clashing.
“We’re not going to tolerate any retribution, any revenge. We’re going to watch. We’re going to be around paying attention to what’s going on,” Waters said. “If it takes us following them one at a time, then we’ll do that. Maybe secretly, maybe overtly, but we’ll keep them off balance, so they can’t shoot up cars and houses and whatever they want to do.”