In the early morning hours of May 17, 2015, Lionel Pickens, a 31-year-old rapper from Queens, New York, known professionally as Chinx, was killed in a drive-by shooting. The male musician was driving his Porsche through his home borough after a performance at a club in Brooklyn. At approximately 4 a.m., while stopped at a red light at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 84th Drive in the Briarwood neighborhood, another vehicle pulled up alongside his car.
An assailant fired multiple shots into the Porsche, striking Pickens several times in the torso. His passenger, Antar Alziadi, 27, was also hit twice but survived the attack. Pickens was rushed to Jamaica Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the targeted killing spanned more than two years before authorities made any arrests. In December 2017, the New York Police Department announced that two men, Quincy Homere, 32, and Jamar Hill, 26, were arrested and charged in connection with the murder. Both men were already incarcerated on unrelated charges at the time they were indicted for Pickens's death. The charges against them included second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. Investigators believe the suspects had followed Pickens from his nightclub appearance in Brooklyn before ambushing him in Queens. The motive for the shooting was said to have stemmed from a dispute between Homere and Pickens that began during a shared time in Rikers Island jail years earlier.
The legal process moved forward, with both men initially pleading not guilty. In July 2024, Quincy Homere pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter. The following month, a judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison. During the sentencing, Homere offered his condolences to the victim's family. Pickens's widow, Janelli Caceres, who was present in court, expressed the profound loss her family endured, leaving her a widow at 28 and their three children without a father. The case against the second suspect, Jamar Hill, is still pending.
