Jonathan Soto, 43, is suspected of killing Michael Gidewon, the co-owner of Atlanta’s Republic Lounge, in 2023.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jonathan Soto, who was placed on Atlanta’s Top 10 Most Wanted list after a high-profile 2023 homicide, has been arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, more than three years later.
Soto is accused of killing Gidewon outside the Republic Lounge on Feb. 4, 2023. Atlanta police responding to the nightclub on Brady Avenue NW found Gidewon, the club’s co-owner, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
According to Atlanta Police, which spoke with Atlanta partner station WXIA, the suspect had been removed from the nightclub for being intoxicated. Investigators allege he returned with a gun and fatally shot Gidewon.
Gidewon was a husband and father of four who operated the club with his brother, Alex. The Republic Lounge announced its closure shortly after Gidewon’s death.
In a statement directed at Soto after the killing, Alex Gidewon wrote, “You executed my brother, in front of the club, in front of people, and walked home like it was nothing.” Alex said Soto had been a longtime friend whom he considered family.
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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, working with the Atlanta Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service, located the 43-year-old fugitive at an apartment complex in the city’s Southside on Wednesday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities surrounded an apartment on Gate Parkway North, but Soto reportedly refused to surrender. He was taken into custody safely after a SWAT team breached the door.
“We are proud of our partnerships with law enforcement agencies, not just locally but across the country. Working together, we get dangerous fugitives off our streets,” the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Soto remains in the Duval County jail on a fugitive warrant.