The news of Foolio's tragic loss in Tampa, Florida following a shooting at his birthday party has been reportedly confirmed by his lawyer, Lewis Fusco. Moreover, he shared an Instagram Story on Sunday morning (June 23) asking fans to respect his family's privacy during this time, and also confirmed the news with local Jacksonville news outlet News4JAX or WJXT4. "We will not be making any additional statements until further notice," Fusco wrote on IG, reposting coverage of the murder. "Please respect his family during this difficult time. Rest in peace @julio_foolio."
What happened in this situation coincided with Foolio's 26th birthday pool party celebrations in Tampa at an Airbnb over the weekend. They moved to a Holiday Inn after police shut down the first shindig, and some reports suggested that he was making his location pretty clear online. The "ambush" shooting took the Confidential Thoughts rapper's life and injured three others, and very little is known at press time about the perpetrators, what specifically happened, whether or not he was involved in any way, or other details about the shooting. "Y’all took my boyfriend from me. I hate y’all & I won’t be the only one crying [broken heart emoji]," his alleged girlfriend Mani shared on Twitter on Sunday.
Foolio's Attorney Speaks Out After His Loss
"God thank you for allowing me to see another Year & To celebrate another birthday," Foolio had tweeted on Friday (June 21), his actual birthday before the weekend's celebrations. "Appreciate all the birthday wishes so far." Sadly, his social media presence was quite a combative one that involved a lot of beef and tension with other rappers and celebrities. While the Jacksonville MC was always one to speak out, a lot of folks hoped he would be able to move past that and into a better phase of his life and career.
After all, Foolio had suffered various shootings before his tragic and untimely passing. Our prayers and best wishes are with his family and loved ones, and we hope that hip-hop can take this loss and build bridges out of it. We shouldn't lose more artists and community members to avoidable conflicts, and we must be aware of how dangerously we allow some artists to live their lives unchecked. We'll see what other details emerge from this story.