‘It’s Not Worth It,’ Chinx Murder Suspect Tells Kids
/By David Brand
Queens Daily Eagle
When Quincy Homere walked out of a courtroom in Queens County Criminal Court surrounded by law enforcement officers Wednesday, he had a message for four young people sitting in chairs in the hallway.
“Keep yourself out of trouble,” Homere said. “It’s not worth it.”
Prosecutors say Homere, 32, failed to heed his own advice.
He is charged with second degree murder for allegedly killing Lionel Pickens, also known as Chinx, in 2015. Pickens was an up-and-coming rapper from Far Rockaway and a protege to friend French Montana, a hip hop superstar from the Bronx.
Homere was transported to court from federal jail, where he awaits sentencing for an unrelated bank robbery conviction. Homere pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery for his role in holding up a Long Island Wells Fargo at gunpoint, his attorney Jason Russo said.
Russo said Homere and his accomplices fled the bank in a getaway car, which crashed. Police arrested one passenger who failed to escape the vehicle and that passenger eventually turned on the other suspects, including Homere.
Russo said Queens prosecutors have not yet offered Homere a plea deal. If Homere does end up accepting some responsibility for Pickens’ death, he would consider taking a deal but only after federal sentencing, Russo said.
“If [Homere does] accept some responsibility, the idea is to have the [sentence] run concurrent,” Russo said. “We want to know what’s going on first.”
A federal sentence cannot run concurrent to a state sentence, but a state sentence can run concurrent to a federal sentence.
The case took another tragic turn earlier this month when defense attorney Deron Castro, who represented Homere’s co-defendant Jamar Hill, died of a heart attack. Judge Kenneth Holder set another hearing for Sept. 25 in order to give Hill’s new attorney a chance to get up to speed.
Pickens’ murder shocked Queens and the hip hop community when it occurred more than three years ago.
In May 2015, Pickens was sitting inside his Porsche at a red light on Queens Boulevard in Briarwood when another car pulled up next to him and a passenger fired several bullets into Picken’s vehicle, striking and killing the rapper.
The hip-hop magazine XXL reported that the beef between Homere and Pickens dates back to 2009 when the two men fought inside Rikers Island while they were both detainees.
Police said Homere and a friend learned that Pickens was performing at a bar in Brooklyn the night of the murder and followed him to a hookah bar after the show. They allegedly followed him as he drove along Queens Boulevard, where prosecutors say Homere shot and killed Pickens at close range.
Homere and his alleged accomplice were charged for the murder in 2017 while incarcerated on the unrelated bank robbery charge.
