In the late morning of Friday, May 29, 2026, 40-year-old Giavonathan Butler was found in a room at the Metro Inn and Suites on Golfair Boulevard in Jacksonville, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers discovered him just before noon; emergency personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit say surveillance footage, witness statements, and crime-scene evidence, including two 9mm shell casings, indicate a violent confrontation preceded the shooting.

Investigators tied the case to a verbal dispute earlier that day in which Butler asked a man to move away from his motel room door. That man was identified as 25-year-old Alfred Jones III, known as YB, who had been released from prison on April 7, 2026. A witness reported Jones and an unidentified male entered Butler’s room; Jones was later seen fleeing. Detectives found a six-round 9mm magazine along Jones’s reported escape route. An arrest warrant for Jones was issued May 31, 2026; he was arrested that day and charged with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The search for the second suspect is ongoing. If anyone has information about Butler’s killing, contact First Coast Crime Stoppers.