A Charlotte man was sentenced this week for gunning down 19-year-old Joelle “JoJo” Clesca inside a Wingstop on Beatties Ford Road, closing out a case that began with a masked gunman and ended with the victim's own grandfather offering forgiveness in open court. Justin Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal, and as part of that agreement prosecutors dismissed a conspiracy charge against him.
According to WBTV, Jones was sentenced to 21 to 25 years in prison, though he will receive credit for just over a year already served in jail. A separate WSOC headline described the sentence as at least 13 years, a minimum consistent with a term of 21 to 25 years.
Clesca was shot and killed on Oct. 12, 2025, inside the Wingstop on Beatties Ford Road in northwest Charlotte, per the same account from wsoctv.com. Prosecutors said Jones entered the restaurant wearing a mask, shot Clesca once in the chest, and fled.
Prosecutors Detail Messages and a Gun Sale
In court, prosecutors said Jones had sent messages beforehand stating he was going to “catch a body at Wingstop” and had described Clesca as “an opp,” according to WBTV. Prosecutors also told the court that Jones tried to sell a Glock 19 a few days after the murder.
Earlier reporting from qcnews.com said police had initially charged Jones along with Santario Lavarius Turner and D'Andre Zion Chisholm, all with first-degree murder and felony conspiracy. The current status of the charges against Turner and Chisholm was not addressed in the sentencing coverage.
Grandfather Offers Forgiveness in Court
Clesca's grandfather, Kobie Emanuel, addressed Jones directly in court, telling him that he forgave him, the same WBTV report states. Emanuel said no sentence would bring his grandson back, and that while he was satisfied with a term of 20 or 25 years, he believed his grandson's life was worth more than any number of years behind bars.
Emanuel also said violence among young people needs to stop. He had previously described Clesca's killing as an assassination, telling wbtv.com last October, “My grandson was not murdered. He was assassinated.” He called the killing senseless.
That same wbtv.com report described Clesca as having been shot at his job at the restaurant, though police later said he was not an employee of the business. The conflicting accounts of Clesca's connection to the Wingstop were not resolved in subsequent coverage.
A Citywide Drop in Homicides
At the time of Clesca's death last fall, Charlotte police said the city had recorded 62 homicides that year, compared with 82 at the same point the previous year, per wbtv.com's earlier report on the shooting. Clesca's killing nonetheless stood out to family and friends who gathered to mourn him as “JoJo,” remembered as someone who touched those around him.
For Emanuel, the sentencing closes one chapter of a case that began with a mask, a gun, and a crowded restaurant on Beatties Ford Road, but his message to the courtroom made clear that grief over his grandson's death remains unresolved even as the legal process moves forward.
