JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The alleged leader of a violent drug trafficking organization who is accused of helping his son escape capture following a murder last year is now facing a new charge in connection with another shooting death.
Abdul Robinson Sr. — who police say is the leader of a group known as ATK, or Ace’s Top Killers — was charged earlier this month with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, a first-degree felony. The new charge stems from the shooting death of Damon Rothermel.
Recommended Videos
MORE: Hip-hop feuds fuel series of Jacksonville murders
Rothermel, 50, was shot and killed in January 2019 while riding his bicycle on Emerson Street near St. Augustine Road. According to police, Rothermel appeared to have been hit by a stray bullet from a shootout between people in two cars.
According to an arrest warrant from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Robinson, also known as “Blue,” is accused of helping one of the suspects who was injured in the shootout that led to Rothermel’s death.
During a meeting at a Westside restaurant the day of the shooting, Robinson, 50, gave one of the four people accused in connection with the shooting death $500 so they could leave town and avoid police, according to the warrant. Later, Robinson is accused of taking the suspect to a doctor in an attempt to get a bullet removed from their knee.
In a news conference last year, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Robinson and ATK are potentially responsible for 15 murders on law enforcement’s radar.
Robinson Sr. and his son Hakeem Robinson have also been charged in connection with the murder of 23-year-old rapper Charles McCormick. Hakeem Robinson, a 21-year-old rapper who goes by “Ksoo,” has been charged with second-degree murder and Robinson Sr. has been charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly helping his son flee the scene.
Hakeem Robinson is also charged in the February 2019 murder of 16-year-old Adrian Gainer Jr. at the Hilltop Village Apartments in Northwest Jacksonville.
Investigators are still searching for Abdul Robinson Jr., who is also considered a murder suspect in the shooting death of McCormick.
Robinson Sr. was injured in 2019 in a shooting that claimed the life of his 25-year-old son, Willie Addison, who was an aspiring rapper.