JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville police are on high alert for retaliatory violence following the shooting death of a local rapper known as Julio Julio in Tampa over the weekend.
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Furio’s lawyer said he was shooting and killing himself in a hotel parking lot while celebrating his 26th birthday in Tampa.
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“I’m tired of losing my nephews, my nieces, my kids,” said Taj Ali, a Florida native who used to live in Jacksonville but now works as a music producer in California under the name Peedee 808.
Ali explained that the industry is leaning towards violence. “It’s ignorant. I hate to say it, but it’s ignorant. There’s this idea of, ‘I have to prove something’ that’s prevalent among a lot of young people right now.”
Furio has survived two shootings in the past three years, including one in Riverside where several homes were involved in a gunfight.
In 2018, four people were shot, three of them dead, including the brother of local rapper Yungeen Ace. Ace was in a car and survived after being shot eight times. He posted a video called “do it” this weekend, hours after the Tampa shooting. One of the lyrics reads, “I told ’em: do it.”
So far, Tampa police have not announced any arrests or named any suspects.
Related: ‘We’ll be cracking down’: Tampa sheriff monitors rival groups after Furio killing
“What kind of mentality is this? Seriously. It’s satanic. It’s bizarre. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said in response to a question about the music video, saying Jacksonville would be on high alert for retaliatory violence as a result.
Ali hopes there will be a shift towards positive music and believes an industry that promotes controversy and violence for financial gain is partly to blame.
“What are you doing to give back to your community? To those less fortunate than you? To uplift those around you?”
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