Jacksonville rapper Ksoo, whose real name is Hakeem Robinson, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2020 killing of Charles McCormick.
The verdict, delivered after a three-and-a-half-hour jury deliberation on Thursday, carries a mandatory life sentence under Florida law.
Prosecutors stated that Robinson shot McCormick as he exited a temp agency on Merrill Road in January 2020.
The motive was linked to the death of Robinson’s stepbrother, Willie Addison, who was killed by a member of the rival 6block gang in 2019.
McCormick, also a 6block member, had released a “diss track” mocking Addison’s death, which prosecutors say provoked Robinson.
Evidence included dashcam and surveillance footage of the shooting, along with social media posts where Robinson allegedly bragged about the crime.
Robinson, his co-defendant Leroy Whitaker, and accomplice Dominique Barner were said to have stalked McCormick.
Whitaker was in a car with a loaded gun, ready to assist, prosecutors claimed.
The defense argued that Robinson was not the shooter in the video, citing his physical build as inconsistent with the suspect’s.
They noted that the murder weapon was never recovered and that Robinson’s phone data did not tie him to the crime.
However, Robinson’s father, a confessed accomplice, testified against him, identifying him as the shooter, though he called it the “hardest thing” he’d ever done.
The defense questioned the father’s credibility due to his own criminal history.
This case is part of a broader web of violence between Jacksonville’s ATK and 6block gangs. Robinson faces another trial for the murder of Adrian Gainer, referenced in a viral song by Yungeen Ace, an ATK member.
